Braga dig in to seal last four spot on historic night for Portuguese

BRAGA capped a historic night for Portuguese teams in the Europa League as all three Primeira Liga representatives booked their places in the semi-finals of the competition.

Starting the night level after a 1-1 draw in Kiev last week, Braga shrugged off the 28th dismissal of Paulo Cesar to earn a goalless draw which saw them through on away goals.

Braga will meet Benfica in an all-Portuguese last four clash after Jorge Jesus’ men rode an early storm in the Netherlands before securing a 2-2 draw with PSV Eindhoven and a 6-3 aggregate win. Trailing 4-1 from the first leg, PSV stunned their visitors by clawing back to a single-goal deficit through Balazs Dzsudzsak in the 17th minute and a Jeremain Lens’ strike eight minutes later. But Benfica held their nerve and gave themselves breathing space when Luisao narrowed the gap on the night in first-half injury time. Oscar Cardozo’s 63rd-minute penalty ended PSV’s slim hopes.

FC Porto wrapped up a 10-3 aggregate win over a Spartak Moscow side that included Aiden McGeady by picking up where they left off last week and racing to a 5-2 victory on the night in the Russian capital.

Villarreal also sealed their semi-final place as they came from behind to claim a 3-1 win against FC Twente which was enough to send them through 8-2 on aggregate.

Emir Bajrami put the home side ahead at the break but when Dwight Tiendalli was sent off on the hour and Giuseppe Rossi scored the resulting penalty, it was all over. Marco Ruben, with another penalty, and Cani completed an easy win.