Braga beat Liverpool 1-0 in first leg of Europa League last 16 tie
English Premier League (EPL) team Liverpool were beaten 1-0 away from home in the first leg of final 16 tie against Portuguese club Braga.
The Reds went a goal behind when http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Sotirios-Kyrgiakos-c33831 brought down Mossoro inside the Liverpool box. Mossoro had made a surging run down the middle and right into the box. Kyrgiakos tried hard to tackle him, but in the end had to bring him down and the referee
did not hesitate to point to the spot. Braga’s Brazilian striker Alan calmly slotted the penalty in a corner of the goal to give his side a one-nil lead.
Soon afterwards, Braga’s Silvio went close with a fierce shot 30 yards out while Liverpool continued to struggle.
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Dirk-Kuyt-c11348.
Carroll had come on the pitch at Anfield to make his first appearance in Liverpool’s red, he played as a substitute in the 3-1 win against Manchester United. Liverpool Manager Kenny Dalglish was tempted to give him a start against Braga, but he decided against
it. However he did make something of an impression after coming on and won the long balls, but still the goal was missing.
Braga defender Kaka was lucky not to be sent off when he elbowed Carroll as the two jumped high to win a header.
Braga are currently sixth in the Portuguese league and lag 31 points behind Porto who lead the table. They have already beaten Celtic 3-0 at home in a Champions League fixture and also beat Arsenal in the group stages of the same competition. They failed
to progress to the knockout stages of the tournament and were dropped down to the Europa League.
Braga’s last domestic league game that they played at home enabled them to break the 18-match winning streak of Benfica with a 2-1 win.
Braga were expected to do all the running as Liverpool hardly threaten when they play away from home in Europe. Predictably, it was a cagy start from the visitors and Braga took full advantage of that.
Liverpool seemed to have come for a clean sheet. The strategy of sitting back worked for Liverpool, but only for the first 17 minutes or so. Liverpool failed to find any sort of momentum in the game and the defensive mindset seemed to have taken a hold on
them. Kenny Dalglish tried to change things around but his efforts hardly changed much. The Reds looked tired and probably the efforts put in against Manchester United did take their toll on them.
Braga continued to attack and would have gone another goal up, had the crossbar not saved them. Mossoro took a shot from outside the area, and the swirling ball beat the keeper but bounced off the bar. Liverpool sent on Andy Carroll and despite adding some
pace and height to the attack, he was not able to get his team level. Liverpool were hesitant to commit too many men forward as they looked more determined not to concede then to score. The Reds will hope to turn over the one-goal deficit when Braga visit
Anfield in two weeks time.
Tags: