Beşiktaş look to finish Braga off

Beşiktaş JK will look to book a UEFA Europa League round of 16 meeting with S.S. Lazio or Club Atlético de Madrid as they defend a 2-0 lead at home against coach Carlos Carvalhal's old club, SC Braga.

• Hélder Barbosa's dismissal 29 minutes into the first leg tilted the game in Beşiktaş's favour, and Tomáš Sivok (37) and Simão (58) pressed home their advantage.

Previous meetings
• The sides have been paired for the first time in UEFA competition.

• Beşiktaş's six matches against Portuguese teams have ended W2 D1 L3 (W0 D0 L2 at home). They were without a win in four games against Liga opposition before their first leg success against Braga.

• Braga beat Sivasspor 5-0 on aggregate (2-0 away and 3-0 at home) in the 2008 UEFA Intertoto Cup third round in their only previous meetings with Turkish opposition prior to the first leg.

Match background
• Beşiktaş have won all four of their European home matches this season, averaging three goals a game in Istanbul.

• Last term Beşiktaş made it through the round of 32 for the first time since the advent of the UEFA Cup group stage, only to lose 8-1 on aggregate to FC Dynamo Kyiv. They met again in this season's group stage, trading 1-0 home wins.

• Beaten UEFA Europa League finalists last season, Braga's four 2011/12 away games in Europe have produced a win and three draws.

• Braga have reached the round of 32 for the fifth time in the last six seasons; on only one of those previous occasions − in 2007/08 − have they failed to progress, falling foul of an SV Werder Bremen side featuring Beşiktaş's Hugo Almeida.

Team facts
• Beşiktaş boast a Portuguese coach − Carlos Carvalhal − and six Portuguese players: Manuel Fernandes, Simão, Ricardo Quaresma, Júlio Alves, Hugo Almeida and Bebé, who is on loan from Manchester United FC and had a short spell at Braga's local rivals Vitória SC in 2010. He and Braga midfielder Custódio were briefly team-mates at Guimaraes at the start of last season.

• Manuel Fernandes has produced five assists since the start of the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League group stage − more than any other player in this season's edition.

• Brazilian defender Sidnei played in Portugal with SL Benfica, where he was a team-mate of Braga striker Nuno Gomes from 2008 to 2011.

• Carvalhal was born in Braga, has often proclaimed himself a supporter of the team and was in charge at the Estádio Municipal in 2006/07. He started his playing career as a defender at the club and represented them in three spells.

• Fran Mérida, who was loaned to Braga in the autumn, and Beşiktaş winger Simão were team-mates at Atlético last season.

• Leonardo Jardim is in charge at Braga having replaced Sporting Clube de Portugal-bound Domingos Paciência in the summer. The Venezuelan-born coach had spells at AD Camacha, GD Chaves and SC Beira-Mar before joining Braga.

Round of 16
• The winners of this tie will take on Lazio or Atlético in the round of 16 on 8 and 15 March, playing the second leg at home.

• Braga have met neither of their potential opponents in UEFA competition.

• Beşiktaş have never met Atlético but took on Lazio in the 2002/03 UEFA Cup quarter-finals (losing 1-0 in Rome, then 2-1 in Istanbul) and the 2003/04 UEFA Champions League group stage (losing 2-0 in Istanbul then drawing 1-1 in Rome).

Competition statistics
• An updated version of the UEFA Europa League Statistics Handbook is available here:
http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/news/newsid=1750416.html