Benfica host Braga in Portuguese first

SL Benfica and SC Braga are sure to make history in their UEFA Europa League semi-final opener as they become the first Portuguese sides to meet in a UEFA club competition game.

Previous meetings
• This is the first all-Portuguese tie in a UEFA club competition, and could potentially result in a second, with Liga champions FC Porto taking on Villarreal CF in the other semi-final.

• This is the first last-four contest to feature two domestic rivals since the advent of the UEFA Europa League, although FC Shakhtar Donetsk beat fellow Ukrainians FC Dynamo Kyiv in the semi-finals of the final edition of the UEFA Cup in 2008/09.

• Seven UEFA Cup finals were contested by sides representing the same national association.
1971/72: Tottenham Hotspur FC 3-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers FC (agg)
1979/80: Eintracht Frankfurt 3-3 VfL Borussia Mönchengladbach (agg; Eintracht won on away goals)
1989/90: Juventus 3-1 ACF Fiorentina (agg)
1990/91: FC Internazionale Milano 2-1 AS Roma (agg)
1994/95: Parma FC 2-1 Juventus (agg)
1997/98: FC Internazionale Milano 3-0 S.S. Lazio
2006/07: Sevilla FC 2-2 RCD Espanyol (aet; Sevilla win 3-1 on penalties)

• Three Portuguese sides are in the semi-finals, but this is not unprecedented. Indeed, all four 1979/80 UEFA Cup semi-finalists represented the same nation, West Germany.

• Benfica and Braga have met in 110 Portuguese Liga games, with the Lisbon club 72-11 up in terms of victories. They have also met in ten Portuguese Cup matches, with Benfica possessing a more modest 6-4 lead.

• Benfica have lost only once at home against Braga in the league, back in the 1954/55 season, with their complete Liga record in Lisbon against the Minho side reading W43 D11 L1. They have won all four of their cup home games against Braga.

• Braga's home league record against Benfica reads W10 D16 L29. In the cup, it is W4 D0 L2.

Match background
• Benfica are unbeaten in six European games since the start of the year – four wins and two draws. They have won all three of their UEFA Europa League home matches this season, but conceded once in each of those fixtures.

• Braga are on a run of three successive UEFA Europa League draws since winning 1-0 at home against Liverpool FC in the round of 16 first leg. The only time they have found the net since that success was courtesy of an own goal.

• Braga have won only one away match since the start of the UEFA Champions League group stage, beating FK Partizan 1-0 on 3 November. In those six fixtures they have scored two goals and conceded ten, six of them in a 6-0 defeat at Arsenal FC.

• Braga have scored only four goals in six games since they entered the UEFA Europa League in the round of 32, but they have conceded just two.

• In the same period, Benfica have scored 13 times, but have let in six: an average of one goal a game.

Team facts
• Alan's two goals since the start of the year – one of them a penalty – make him Braga's top UEFA Europa League scorer.

• Óscar Cardozo and Eduardo Salvio top Benfica's UEFA Europa League scorers list with three goals each since the start of the round of 32.

• Both Braga and Benfica started the season in the UEFA Champions League group stage, meaning that one side from that competition is certain to be involved in the UEFA Europa League final. Both Porto and Villarreal, by contrast, started the campaign in this competition.

• Last season's inaugural UEFA Europa League final also featured sides from both competitions, with UEFA Champions League group stage contenders Club Atlético de Madrid overcoming UEFA Europa League group stage challengers Fulham FC in the Hamburg decider.

• Salvio played in that game for Atlético, but the Argentinian's chances of making it to a second successive final look slim after he broke a bone in his foot in the second leg of Benfica's quarter-final success against PSV Eindhoven.

• Benfica goalkeeper Roberto has featured in all 540 minutes of the Eagles' campaign since their transfer from the UEFA Champions League, as have defenders Luisão and Maxi Pereira. Fábio Coentrão, Óscar Cardozo, Eduardo Salvio and Nicolás Gaitán also started all six of those games, and Pablo Aimar featured in all of them too, coming off the bench in two matches.

• Artur, Sílvio and Hugo Viana have been ever-presents for Braga since the start of the round of 32, with Lima also starting all six games, and Alan featuring in them all as a starter or a substitute.

• Benfica's Carlos Martins celebrates his 29th birthday on the day after the first leg against Braga.

• Braga right-back Sílvio came through Benfica's youth system, joining the Arsenalistas last summer after two seasons at Rio Ave FC.

• Benfica full-back Luís Filipe represented Braga from 2000 to 2001 and then between 2005 and 2007, when he joined the Eagles.

• Versatile left-sided Benfica player César Peixoto represented Braga from 2007 to 2009.

• Benfica boss Jorge Jesus was Braga coach in 2008/09 when his side won the UEFA Intertoto Cup and reached the UEFA Cup round of 16, losing out to Paris Saint-Germain FC.

• Braga came second to Benfica in the 2009/10 Liga; it was Braga's best domestic finish to date.

• Goalkeeper Quim – absent from the Braga squad due to a long-term injury – represented Benfica from 2004 to 2010, when he returned to the club where he started his career.

• Benfica's next defeat will be their 100th in UEFA club competition. This will be their 333rd UEFA game, making them by far the most experienced side left in the UEFA Europa League.

• The tie concludes in Braga on 5 May. The overall winner will be the nominal away side in the UEFA Europa League final at the Dublin Arena on 18 May.