Paços de Ferreira and Sporting Braga meet at Estádio da Capital do Móvel, in a match for the 14th round of the Primeira Liga. In this stadium, the history of direct confrontations is favorable to the visiting team, which registers 3 wins and 2 losses in the last 5 games. In fact, the last time these two teams played a match at this stadium was on 10‑07‑2020, for the Primeira Liga, which ended with the victory of Sporting Braga by (1‑5). The goals of the match were scored by Zé Uilton (78 ‘), for Paços de Ferreira, and Ricardo Horta (47’), Paulinho (38 ‘, 34’ and 3 ‘) and Galeno (89′), for Sporting Braga.
Paços Ferreira:
The home team is currently in 5th position, with 22 points won, after 6 wins, 4 draws and 3 losses. In the penultimate match, they won at home against Rio Ave by (2‑0). In the last match, they won away against Belenenses by (0‑2). For the championship, Paços de Ferreira won 13 points out of 18 possible, after 4 wins, 1 draw and 1 loss in the last 6 games they played in their stadium.
For this competition, they did not lose any of the last 5 matches in their stadium. His attack has scored regularly, as he has always scored at least one goal in the last 10 matches for this competition. In 13 matches in this tournament, he conceded the first goal 4 times and never got the comeback. In the last 7 home matches for all competitions there is 1 period that stands out: they have conceded 3 of their 6 goals between minutes (61’ ‑ 75 ‘).
Paços de Ferreira are making a sensational campaign in the elite of Portuguese football. For now, the team led by Pepa can dream of qualifying for the European competitions, especially since it reaches the fourteenth day in fifth place, with 22 points, two more than Vitória de Guimarães, which has a less disputed match. Last Sunday, Paços beat Belenenses by 0x2, adding the second consecutive victory (after a 2×0 victory over Rio Ave), with goals scored by Bruno Costa (8 ‘) and Diaby (90 + 1’), in a game in which the team’s good defensive organization stood out, as well as the spirit of sacrifice to maintain the minimum advantage throughout most of the game.
Braga:
The visiting team is currently in 4th position, with 27 points won, after 9 wins and 4 losses. In the penultimate match, they lost away against Sporting CP by (2‑0). In the last match, they won at home against Marítimo by (2‑1). In the last match they played, for Taça de Portugal, they beat Torreense at home by (5‑0). In their last 7 away matches for the championship, Sporting Braga has recorded 4 wins and 3 losses, for which they have won 12 points out of 21 possible. His attack has scored regularly, as he has scored goals in 9 of the last 10 matches for this competition. This is a team that does not usually have difficulties to open the scoring: they scored the first goal in 10 of the last 13 games for the Primeira Liga, of these 10 they reached the break with a lead in 7 and managed to maintain the advantage until the end of the 90 ‘at 9.
Braga have been trying to meddle in the fight for the top spots with the so-called big three of Portuguese football several years ago, but reveal some difficulties in keeping up with the chronic contenders. Therefore, it is not surprising that the team reaches the fourteenth day in the fourth position of the leaderboard, with 27 points, five more than Paços de Ferreira and four more than FC Porto and Benfica. On the last day, coach Carlos Carvalhal’s team returned to victories, after the defeat at Alvalade, by beating Marítimo by 2×1, in a match in which Braga ended up suffering. Last Wednesday, they qualified for the round of 32 of the Portuguese Cup without problems, eliminating Torreense with a 5×0 victory.
PREDICTION: Braga to win @ 1,85
