Groningen v Braga background
Sunday, November 29, 2015
Article summary
Groningen's UEFA Europa League adventure will end on matchday six, but Braga's will continue and they can be certain of finishing top of Group F with a point.
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Article body
FC Groningen are out of the running for a knockout round place, but SC Braga have qualified and will finish top of UEFA Europa League Group F if they avoid defeat in the Netherlands or if Olympique de Marseille fail to win away to FC Slovan Liberec.
Previous meetings
• Braga won 1-0 in Portugal when the sides met for the first time in UEFA competition on matchday two.
• Groningen's only previous encounter with Portuguese opposition came in a 1986/87 UEFA Cup third-round tie where they beat Vitória SC 1-0 at home before losing the return fixture 3-0 in Guimaraes.
• Braga's record in five games against Dutch teams is W3 D0 L2 (W1 D0 L2 in the Netherlands).
Form guide
• Groningen are involved in the group stage of a major UEFA competition for the first time. They are equalling their longest-ever European campaign with this sixth Group F game, having also played six matches in reaching the third round of the 1988/89 UEFA Cup.
• Losing finalists in 2011 – when they transferred over after the UEFA Champions League group stage – Braga have now made it to the round of 32 in all five of their UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns.
Trivia and links
• The journey from Braga to Groningen is around 1,700km.
• Groningen's Albert Rusnák and Braga's Joan Roman were trainees together at Manchester City FC from 2010 to 2012.
The coaches
• Previously assistant coach, Erwin van de Looi took sole command at Groningen in 2013; they qualified for Europe in his first season and last time out won their first Dutch Cup. A former Dutch Under-21 international, the now 43-year-old played UEFA Cup football with Vitesse, ending his injury-ravaged playing days at Groningen in 2002.
• Appointed to the Braga hot seat last summer, former defender Paulo Fonseca, 42, had a low-key playing career. Having made his name in the second division as boss of CD Aves, Fonseca twice coached FC Paços de Ferreira in the top division either side of a stint in charge of FC Porto, where he was once on the books as a player.
