UEFA Europa League Official Live football scores & stats
Get
UEFA.com works better on other browsers
For the best possible experience, we recommend using Chrome, Firefox or Microsoft Edge.

Braga v Sion background

Braga won all three of their home games in the group stage, a statistic that does not bode well for Sion as they bid to overturn a 2-1 deficit and reach the UEFA Europa League round of 16.

Braga's Ahmed Hassan feels the presence of Sion defender Reto Ziegler
Braga's Ahmed Hassan feels the presence of Sion defender Reto Ziegler ©AFP/Getty Images

SC Braga will aim to continue their perfect home record in this season's UEFA Europa League when they host FC Sion leading 2-1 after the first leg of their round of 32 tie.

Previous meetings
• The sides met for the first time in UEFA competition in the first leg, when Rafa Silva's 61st-minute goal earned Braga victory. Nikola Stoiljković put the Arsenalistas ahead, with Moussa Konaté levelling for Sion early in the second half. Braga's Nikola Vukčević was sent off late on.    

• Braga are unbeaten in four games against Swiss sides (W2 D2 L0), including eliminating BSC Young Boys in the 2011/12 UEFA Europa League play-offs.

• Sion lost 6-2 on aggregate to FC Porto in the 1992/93 European Champion Clubs' Cup second round in their only previous tie against Portuguese opposition.

Form guide
• Braga have won all three of their European home matches this season – all by a one-goal margin. Sion's group stage away record was W1 D1 L1.

• Losing finalists in 2011 – when they transferred over after the UEFA Champions League group stage – Braga have now made it to the round of 32 from all five of their UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns.

• Sion are playing in the spring phase of a UEFA competition for the first time since losing to 1. FC Lokomotive Leipzig in the 1986/87 European Cup Winners' Cup quarter-finals.

Trivia and links
• The journey from Sion to Braga is just short of 1,400km.

The coaches
• Appointed to the Braga hot seat last summer, former defender Paulo Fonseca, 42, 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 flight either side of a stint at FC Porto, where he was once on the books as a player.

• A UEFA Cup finalist with FC Girondins de Bordeaux in 1996, French striker Didier Tholot ended his playing career as player-coach at Sion and took charge of the club for a third time in 2014. He led Sion to Swiss Cup success in 2009 during his second spell and lifted that trophy again last term.

Penalty shoot-outs
• Braga won their only previous UEFA penalty shoot-out:
W 5-4 A v Udinese Calcio (2012/13 UEFA Champions League play-offs)

• Sion have lost both of their UEFA penalty shoot-outs:
L 5-4 H v Malmö FF (1974/75 European Cup Winners' Cup first round)
L 5-3 A v Feyenoord (1991/92 European Cup Winners' Cup second round) 

Selected for you