Sporting Braga hosts Spartak Moscow

Sporting Braga hosts Spartak Moscow in a first leg from the Europa League playoffs. We are going to take a look at this fixture in our Europa League predictions for today.

In the third round of the qualifiers Sporting Braga faced the Danish side Brondby and enjoyed two wins over them. The Portuguese team won the first leg in Denmark with 4-2, which made Braga a huge favourite for progression.

In the second leg Braga achieved a second win over Brondby, this time beating them with 3-1 at the Estadio Municipal de Braga. Joao Palhinha, Andre Horta and Paulinho scored for Sa Pinto’s team, while Peter Bjur’s goal for Brondby did not change much in this tie.

In the Portuguese Primeira Liga Sporting Braga with a win, but in their second game they conceded a 1-2 loss during the visit to Sporting CP in Lisboa. Wendel and Bruno Fernandes scored for Sporting, while Wilson Eduardo’s goal for the visitors was not enough for anything more in the clash.

Spartak Moscow reached the Europa League playoffs after two wins over the Swiss side Thun. The Russian giants won the first leg in Switzerland with 3-2, while in Moscow they enjoyed another win – this time with 2-1. Thun opened the score after just seven minutes of playing, but after the break Spartak clinched the win with goals from Ezequiel Ponce and Andre Schurrle.

On Monday Spartak boosted their confidence even more, winning the Moscow derby against CSKA. The game at the Otkrytiye Arena ended with a 2-1 win for the hosts. The big hero for Spartak was the central defender Samuel Gigot, who scored both goals in CSKA’s net.

We have all reasons to expect a thrilling game between Sporting Braga and Spartak Moscow on Thursday. Both teams are strong enough to progress, so it’d be really interesting to follow this tie. We wish you good luck in our Europa League predictions for today.