Standard fall no surprise for Braga's Leone

Andre Leone claimed SC Braga's eye-catching 3-0 defeat of R. Standard de Liège on Wednesday was anything but a surprise after helping the Portuguese club dominate the Belgian champions in a one-sided first leg.

'Expected'
With Braga having only just squeezed into the Round of 32 while Standard had eased through impressively, the Liga side's coach Jorge Jesus had predicted a keenly contested tie. Leone, though, had faith his team-mates would prove their manager wrong. "I was expecting this result as we'd prepared for this match very thoroughly," said the 30-year-old defender. "We've worked very hard to improve our game and I'm delighted. However, nothing's been decided yet, because in football you can't take anything for granted."

Favourites
Leone gave his team a two-goal cushion on 27 minutes shortly after Renteria had put the hosts in front. Luis Aguiar's late strike added a convincing gloss to the scoreline, but Leone acknowledged it was his goal that had swung the match in Braga's favour, and means they head into next Thursday's second leg as overwhelming favourites. "It was an important goal at a time when we were dominating and playing very well," he said. "Our team has great passing and finishing qualities. We will now work hard to achieve an ever better result in the second leg."

'Fully deserved'
Jesus conceded that Standard's ambitions had been undermined by the early, injury-enforced departure of attacking midfielder Steven Defour, but was understandably satisfied with his team's display. "Braga fully deserved to win. The first 35 minutes were those of a great team," the Braga boss said, before warning: "We saw some fatigue, though, towards the end of the game, mainly mental, as my players couldn't think so quickly. We have to find a solution to this problem."