With Braga facing a Premier League side in the Europa League this week, the pre-match interviews were supposed be hyping up the big challenge the club have ahead.
However, Leicester City’s 4-0 win over them in England makes things look quite different now. The Portuguese media has been focused on how the Liga NOS side could have a more balanced game against the Foxes.
Manager Carlos Carvalhal and midfielder Carlos Castro both spoke to the local press today, and talked about their plans to improve their performance from that game.
The coach claimed he expects a similar match from the one at the King Power Stadium, but now hopes his side has learned how to play against Leicester City.
“I don’t expect a different game, it’ll have the same characteristics, but I hope that we can have learned from mistakes and enhance the things we did well there. We have already analysed the game deeply and I think we’ll give a good answer, because we’ll be better prepared,” said Carvalhal (via Sapo).
“We have total confidence. We know that if we win, it’ll be a great achievement, just a week ago Leicester were in first place in the English league, but we’re committed to leaving a mark at the club and, for that, we have to approach this game in a positive way, we believe we can win.”
Castro also talked about the improvement he expects from his team, claiming that despite the 4-0 loss, their performance wasn’t that bad.
“Braga will be just like usual, that is, we’ll want to have the ball and create opportunities, in order to try to win the game; it is this Braga that we will have,” he said (via O Jogo).
“We did good things in that game, especially in the first half. What was less good has already been analysed. Given the numbers of the defeat, this was the worst game of the season, but that won’t take away the confidence of the team. Both in the league and in the Europa League we’ve been doing well. We expect an open game.”
Leicester City won their three games so far and are top of Group G with nine points. The Foxes are followed by Braga with six, AEK with three and Zorya at the bottom with no points so far.
