Braga have final chance to prove Porto aren’t invincible

UEFA have billed it from the off as ‘Dublin 2011 — The Final Adventure’ but for anyone who had to get to the Aviva Stadium on eve of match business yesterday, just crossing the capital city was an adventure in itself.

The Queen’s visit might be hogging the headlines and clogging the streets but for Portuguese football a right royal occasion takes place in the capital tonight. Porto and Braga have never met before in European competition but they have faced each other no less than 131 times domestically and are the closest neighbours ever to contest a European final, their home grounds being just 47km apart.

While this is Braga’s first European final, Porto are old hands at this sort of thing, having racked up nine appearances in UEFA deciders. But of more relevance to tonight’s game is that Porto are unbeaten over the course of a whole Liga campaign which saw them claim a remarkable 84 points out of 90, a whopping 38 ahead of their opponents tonight who finished fourth. And with a domestic cup final still to come on Sunday, a remarkable treble beckons.

But if Porto are the invincibles, Braga have their own reasons not to be overawed going into tonight’s decider and not least because they have already claimed the European scalps this season of Celtic, Arsenal, Sevilla, Liverpool and, in the semi-finals, Portuguese giants Benfica.

Braga are noted domestically as a counter-attacking team who keep it tight at the back where centre-halves Paulo and Rodriguez have been outstanding throughout much of the season — though not, conspicuously, when the Gunners put six past them in the Champions League at the Emirates.

Their biggest problem has been finding the net at the other end where, despite the threat posed by right-sided Brazilian Alan, Braga have managed just six goals in the Europa League, and one of those was an own goal.

For Porto, the South American strikeforce of the Brazilian Hulk and the Colombian Falcao — named after the Roma and Brazil legend — do most of the damage, the duo accounting for almost half of the team’s goals this season.

But arguably Porto’s biggest weapon will be in the dugout where Andre Villas-Boas is, at 33, on the brink of becoming the youngest coach to win a UEFA club competition.

At yesterday’s press conference, he was obliged again to tell the already well-documented story of how, as a teenager with ambitions to be a football journalist, he wrote to then Porto boss Bobby Robson with some supportive observations about one of his players, ‘Domingos’, the man now known as the manager of tonight’s opponents Braga. So impressed was Robson with the content of the letter that he invited the young man to join the club as a scout for underage players, and from there he rose to become part of Jose Mourinho’s technical staff at Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan before taking flight as a manger on his own.

Indeed, Villas-Boas revealed that his only previous visit to Dublin had been to watch Damien Duff in an Ireland game when both men were at Stamford Bridge. “Hopefully,” he added with a smile, “Dublin will be in our memories for a long time.”

Inevitably, Villas-Boas has been tagged the ‘new Mourinho’ but, as he alternated between Portuguese and fluent English at the press conference, he made it clear that he is not laying claim to any special powers. Indeed, when asked about the comparison in the past, he has quipped: “For all I know, I could become the shit one”.

Yesterday, however, he opted to play a straight bat.

“People focus on the work of a manager but I don’t see it that way,” he said. “For me, success depends on the structure of the club and the quality of the players. I don’t see it as a one-man show.”

SC Braga coach Domingos Paciencia was singing much the same tune, though his success in guiding the outsiders to a European summit means that this will be his last game as their manager before it is widely expected he will join Sporting Lisbon. That subject, however, was now off limits. “I’m only focused now on this cup,” he said motioning towards the trophy which stood a few feet away.

As a player, the 42-year-old was a hero for Porto back in the day, something which only adds to the fascination of tonight’s game in Portugal as the minnows attempt to slay the giants on foreign soil.

“Destiny has its irony and that’s why we are playing Porto in the final of the Europa League,” said Paciencia. “Yes, Porto are the favourites but I played for them in the 1987 European Cup final when everyone said Bayern Munich would win — and we beat them 2-1. People always relate me to Porto but I’m working for Braga now and we know that to take this trophy home we will have to try to be perfect. But anything is possible in football.”

PORTO (4-3-3): Helton (capt); Sapunaru, Rolando, Otamendi, Pereira; Guarin, Fernando, Moutinho; Hulk, C Rodriguez, Falcao

SC BRAGA (4-4-2): Artur; Garcia, Paulao, Rodriguez, Silvio; Alan, Vandinho (capt), Viana, Mossoro; Lima, Meyong.

Referee: Carlo Velasco Carballo (Spain).