03.07.2007, 11:05
Barcelona face Braga for the Champions League

New Barcelona coach, Manuel Cadenas (pictured), knows everything about Braga and takes the qualification matches very seriously.

Barcelona face Braga for the Champions League

Barcelona has great respect for ABC Braga. The Portuguese club will be the opponent of the Catalonian team in the qualification round of the Champions League. This will be the first and necessary step to reach the coveted group phase. If Barcelona can beat Braga; Ivry, Dinamo Astrakhan and Banik Karvina will wait for them in Group A.

ABC won the Portuguese League

Manuel Cadenas, new coach of Barcelona, knows their opponent: “Braga won the Portuguese League after two defeats in the play-off against Madeira. They won the last two titles in Portugal. They have four players in the Portuguese national: Costa, Andrade, Matos and Bogas. They complete the team with goalkeeper Ferreira and Serbian Zelenovic, who has a very good shot.”

ABC Braga has other solutions in attack as well: “They have a very good connection between the playmaker Matos and the line player Costa. What’s more, Braga are able to do fast breaks very well.”

Aggressive defence

Cadenas also knows about the Braga defence as well: “ABC are a strong team in defence. They used to play with open defence, 3-3 or 5-1. In addition, Braga are able to use a 1-5 defence, placing five players ahead the pivot. These open defensive systems let them to go quickly on fast breaks.”

Last season, Braga played qualification games against Metalurg Skopje. The Macedonian team won over ABC and the Portuguese club could not reach the CL.

TEXT: Fernando Urra Goñi