Liberec v Braga background
Wednesday, September 2, 2015
Article summary
Slovan Liberec will look to get some belated revenge for a heavy defeat the last time they met Braga, with this the Portuguese side's 100th UEFA game.
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FC Slovan Liberec did not much enjoy their only previous encounter with SC Braga, who will make their 100th European appearance in their opening UEFA Europa League Group F game.
Previous meetings
• Carlos Carvalhal's Braga beat Vítězslav Lavička's Slovan 4-0 in Portugal in the sides' only previous European meeting, a 2006/07 UEFA Cup group stage match. It was Braga's first – and, to date, only - game against Czech opponents.
• The teams for that game on 2 November 2006 were:
Braga: Paulo Santos, Pedro Costa, Nem, Césinha (João Pinto 76), Maciel, Luís Felipe, Ricardo Chaves (Bruno Gama 86), Irineu, Andrés Madrid, Marcel (Matheus 46), Vandinho.
Liberec: Marek Čech, Zápotočný, Bílek, Hodúr (Ančic 63), Pospĕch (Parks 46), Koštál, Šinglár, Frejlach (Hochmeister 84), Papoušek, Pudil, Holenda.
• Liberec beat Estoril Praia 2-1 home and away in their only other games against Portuguese opponents, in the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League group stage.
Form guide
• Liberec have won all four of their European games this season, conceding just once in the process.
• Braga's last European campaign was in 2013/14, when they were eliminated from the UEFA Europa League play-offs by Romanian side CS Pandurii Târgu Jiu.
• This is Liberec's third appearance in this group stage; they fell short in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup group stage, but made it through to the round of 32 in 2013/14.
• Losing finalists in 2011 – when they transferred over at the end of the UEFA Champions League group stage – Braga have made it to the round of 32 in all four of their previous UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns.
Trivia and links
• The journey from Braga to Liberec is just over 2,050km.
• This will be Braga's 100th UEFA club competition game: the previous 99 ended W41 D19 L39.
• Liberec forward Michael Rabušic celebrates his 27th birthday on the day of the Braga game.
The coaches
• Appointed Braga coach this summer, former defender Paulo Fonseca had a low-key playing career. Having made his name in the second division as boss of CD Aves, Fonseca twice coached FC Paços de Ferreira in the top division either side of a stint in charge of FC Porto, where he was once on the books as a player.
• Jindřich Trpišovský took charge at Slovan in June. It was a first major top-flight appointment for the coach, who models himself on former Borussia Dortmund boss Jürgen Klopp. Once a youth coach at AC Sparta Praha, he previously led second-division FK Viktoria Žižkov, impressing despite the club's financial problems.
