On this Saturday night, Moreirense and Braga will meet in their Portuguese Premier League match. All other leagues have been closed due to the International Match Day, which provides an opportunity for both clubs to have a bye.
Braga's Andres Castro scores their first goal on February 23, 2023 The game was originally postponed at the end of August when Braga played in Europe, with the league giving them a week to focus on their match against Panathinaikos. The adjustment worked out well as Braga won the two-legged tie to advance, giving Portugal three representatives in the group stage of the Champions League.
It was the club's first appearance in the group stage of UEFA's senior club competition since the 2012-13 season and their third. However, Braga have never been able to get beyond the group stage and they once again face the challenge of being seen as the underdogs in a group containing Real Madrid, Napoli and Union Berlin.
On the league front, Braga put in a decent performance in their third qualifying round match against TSC Bakatopola, and despite beating the Serbian side comfortably, they were beaten by Famarican at home in the league match between the two legs. However, Artur Jorge's side recovered from their opening day defeat to beat Chavesh away from home and drew with Sporting Lisbon last weekend.
If they can win this bye, then they will finish in the top six and know that all the stronger teams have lost points. However, Portuguese Premier League champions Moreirense have not had a great start to their return to the top flight.
Their home defeat in the first round of the League Cup against **s was an immediate low point and they have failed to score a single goal in three pre-season friendlies. Despite a disappointing start to the league campaign, Roy Borges' side still took a surprise lead against Porto.
In their last seven Champions League games last season, Moreirense scored 19 points, scored 25 goals and also conceded 13 goals. This time, however, it was a completely different story as Moreirense had played a very close game so far. Their inability to break through a Famaglikan side that played with only 10 men for the entire second half was even more disappointing, but they finally found their first win last weekend.
Looking at the overall match statistics, Braga's overall strength is significantly better than Moreirense. However, some of Braga's key players such as Horta and Ruiz will be absent from this match, which may affect their attacking power. Moreirense, despite their poor performance at the beginning of the league, their defense is doing quite well, and they still keep the whole team intact.
Based on the above analysis, I predict a 1-1 draw in this match. Braga could be frustrated by the absence of two key attacking players and could face a challenge in front of Moreirense, who have not given many goals so far this season. The hosts still have a full squad of players who are confident of getting a result against a significantly weakened Braga side.
