Braga rue luck after late Club Brugge loss

SC Braga midfielder Mossoró remained upbeat despite his team going down 2-1 at home to Club Brugge KV, saying Leonardo Jardim's men have what it takes to qualify for the knockout stage. Visiting striker Joseph Akpala, on the other hand, told UEFA.com he could not be happier with his goal and especially with a result that put his side top of Group H.

Mossoró, Braga midfielder
Football is exactly like this: we had several chances to kill the game off but failed in front of goal and in football if you don't score there's always a risk you can concede. We were pegged back following two set plays which rarely happen with us. It's not possible to take that back and now we have to keep our heads held high and look ahead because we have been working really well.

We have never been euphoric when we win and we won't be down just because we lost one match. Tonight the game was going our way but then things just got out of hand. It was not a case of relaxing or something like that. We were just unlucky.

Victor Vázquez, Club Brugge midfielder
It was a very difficult match for both teams. Braga and Brugge played really well. Braga took the lead following a beautiful move but after that we raised our game. We equalised with a very lucky goal but in the last 15 minutes our opponents tired and we capitalised.

We scored an amazing second goal through Ryan Donk's lovely header. It's always very good to win two consecutive games in the UEFA Europa League, even more when one of those wins happens at such a difficult stadium like this. These six points will give us a lot of confidence for the rest of our campaign.

Joseph Akpala, Club Brugge forward
Obviously I'm very satisfied with the fact I scored but even more because we got three important points. We knew it was going to be a very tough match so this triumph is even tastier. We're top of our group and that has to do with the concentration we showed tonight. My goal was a bit weird but in football it doesn't matter how you score. What really matters is that we did what we had to do and we were rewarded with that late second goal. In the first half we didn't play very well but at half-time we spoke about what we were doing wrong and fixed it.