Europa League preview and odds: Sporting Braga vs Shakhtar Donetsk
Published on: 05/04/2016
Europa League preview and odds: Sporting Braga vs Shakhtar Donetsk
April 07, 2016 21:05pm - Estadio Municipal de Braga
Europa League
Braga will be defending their unbeaten home record in Europe this term when they welcome a Shaktar Donetsk side who have yet to be beaten home or away.
Sporting Braga strong at home
Sporting Braga will be relying on their strong home form to give them an advantage to take into the second leg of this Europa League quarter-final tie.
Paulo Fonseca`s team have only beaten once at home in all competitions this season (a 0-2 league defeat to Benfica) and are currently unbeaten in their last 13 matches at Estadio Municipal de Braga, having won 10 and drawn the other three.
The Portuguese club have reached the final of this competition once before, back in 2011, when they were beaten 1-0 by Porto. They come into this game on the back of a 5-1 league defeat away to Benfica.
Shakhtar Donetsk one of three unbeaten teams left in competition
Since entering the tournament at the Round of 32 stage, Shaktar Donetsk have yet to lose a game. Along with Sevilla, they are one of only two teams remaining from the eight that dropped out of the Champions League after the group stage.
They have won seven of their last eight away games in their domestic league and their last three away games in this competition. In their most recent game, they cruised to an 8-1 victory over Metalist in the Ukrainian Premier League.
Team news
Fred and Kucher are both suspended for Shakhtar Donetsk, while Azevedo is out with a knee injury and Rakitskiy, Shevchuk and Taison are all doubtful.
Meanwhile, Braga will have to make do without the injured Crislan and Rui Fonte, while Josué is a doubt.
Recent form (All competitions)
Sporting Braga: LWWLL
Shakhtar: WLWWL
Betting odds and tips
This should be a close game and with both side defending unbeaten home and away records respectively, the draw could come into play.
You can back the first-leg to end in a stalemate at 9/4 with Bet365.
By Neil Morris
Published on: 05/04/2016
Any odds displayed within this preview were correct at the time of publishing (05/04/2016 13:24:45) but are subject to change.
Go To bet365
Bet Credits
