Bragaholic

My nephew Killian is hoping that he gets to see Braga play in Dublin

“DESTINATION DUBLIN 18th MAY 2011″

Aviva o Braga!

Rui, Maria and Jorge(sober!)

8,000 supporters on the road 2010 Naval

First day of the Champions League

The English Crew warm up (Braga 2 Arsenal 0)

Spike and Scotland Yard – Hearts 2004

Jesualdo Ferreira – The Professor

Louvre, Paris (add optional bus)

Matheus – A Champions League Hero

The After Dinner Speech Circuit – May 2010

The Costa family from Guimaraes

Pre Match warm up

“Vocês vivem os nossos sonhos”

A preview of the Benfica bench next week

Never miss an opportunity!

Catching some ZZZZZ’s in Sevilha

Fan’s celebration dinner for Domingos – May 2010

I can’t sleep.

The butterflies have taken over my stomach.

My legs feel heavy.

There is less than 19 hours to go.

Every Benfica game is the same.

I remember every single one.

The last victory over Benfica was a couple of months ago.

I was in Dublin.

The internet was my only friend and even the internet didn’t like me that day.

Every twenty seconds my link decided to take some ZZZZ’s. 

There were incidents galore.

But I only saw them in replays.

I did catch the Mossoro rocket.

I saw the sending off 500 times.

I had chicken for dinner that day as did Roberto.

Braga won 2-1.

Prior to that was October 2009.

Hugo Viana scored another rocket.

Some say Quim had chicken for dinner.

Paulo Cesar scored on the counter attack.

There were incidents galore.

Di Maria spat and kicked and caused a riot.

The game was bitter sweet.

Vandinho attempted aggression.

He paid for being a Braga player.

It was the state of play.

It was the year of the tunnels.

Braga were challeninging  for the league.

Braga won 2-0.

My father passed away that  night. 

2006 was Ricardo Rocha.

He insulted the crowd when he could not take their chanting.

He scored.

Braga scored more.

Braga won 3-1.

2005 was Maxi  Bevacqua vintage.

The papers called Braga Benfica’s second home.

They said they always outnumbered the home fans.

But not this time.

And never ever again.

He only scored 2 goals that season both in the same game against Benfica.

Anderson scored after 20 minutes.

Davide came on after 32.

Castanheira after 45.

Davide went off after 63.

Bevacqua entered.

3 yellow cards for Benfica in 4minutes.

Braga start to dominate.

Cesinha equalises.

He scored 7 league goals in three seasons.

The game continues as Braga continue to push.

Bevacqua puts Braga ahead with 3 minutes to go.

The crowd go hysterical.

Enter the referee Joao Ferreira.

The board goes up.

6 minutes added time?

The crowd were in shock.

There were only three substitutions.

And hardly a foul in the second half.

A ball lofted into the Braga area.

Nem chested it down.

The referee blew his whistle.

He pointed to the spot.

The crowd nearly rioted.

I thought they would invade the pitch.

I was scared all hell would break lose.

Nuno Gomes scored.

Then simulated being a drug addict.

He added insult to injury.

And showed how anti-sporting he could be.

2 minutes later.

Bevacqua offside onside.

Rose high above two defenders.

The ball hit the post.

And then hit the back of the net!

Maxi Bevacqua the hero.

Never to be forgotten.

Never ever to be forgotten.

The final whistle went after 7 minutes injury time.

The supporters celebrated.

A Bola printed  “JUSTO”.

On the front page.

But the inside revealed more.

“The House of Benfica is dead in Braga”

And it has never opened it’s doors again.

The media continues to promote propaganda.

But Braga do not crumble.

That day the “Gverreiros do Minho” were born.

And Legion began marching.

Records tumbled and Braga reached the podium.

The Legion was growing.

The knocked out or beat  7  former Champions of Europe.

Celtic, Sevilha, Partizan Belgrade, Arsenal, Liverpool and Dinamo Kiev

They were always the underdog.

But be aware of the warrior.

The warriors do not give up.

They do not know how to give up.

They will fight until the end.

18 hours to go.

I cannot sleep.

My name is Karl.

And I am a Bragaholic!

There are less than 16 hours to go. It’s 420am. I still cannot sleep. This is the life of a Bragaholic….

Birth of the”Guerreiros do Minho”

Birth of the “Warriors from Minho”

People wonder when the Braga players became warriors and when the legion began to march forward and upwards…For me it was on the 19th of November 2005.

Both the Media and Benfica can assume blame for the escalation in rivalry between Braga and Benfica that is clear for all to see today. Ever since it was reported in media in 2005 that Benfica thought of Braga’s stadium as second home, hostilities have risen to the point of boling over several times. When the two teams met in week 11 of the 2005-2006 championship there was a media frenzy around the game. Any result that gave the home team three points would be accepted. After Anderson scored for Benfica, Jesualdo Ferreira didn’t wait long to switch Abel for Davide and give us more attacking options. Castanheira came on for Jaime at half time to try get a grip in midfield.

The second half began and Braga slowly began to control the game. Davide was strangely substituted again in the 63rd minute and it was a game changing moment when Maxi Bevacqua entered. In a matter of minutes Benfica had three yellow cards, Geovanni went off for Nuno Assis and seconds later Cesinha equalised for Braga. Buna(who sat beside me at the time) and myself did our obligatory Cesinha bows celebrating his goal that would never be forgotten. I recently met Cesinha in December 2010 while he was on a break from Romania(Rapid Bucharest) and recounted the goal. As with every player he was delighted that someone remembered his goal. He only managed a little over a handful of goals for Braga in three seasons(7 league goals, 1 UEFA cup goal and 1 goal in a friendly)but it was certainly the most important during his stay at Braga. Braga did everything for the next twenty minutes except score. Three minutes to and the most unlikely hero popped up. Maxi Bevacqua! The crowd went absolutely nuts. When the fourth official put his board up with 6 minutes compensation time there was disgust amongst the fans. Where did the time come from? Only 3 substitutions during the second half and hardly any stops in play.
Joao Ferreira was just about to become notorious with the Braga supporters and his reputation has only worsened in Braga ever since. An inoccuous ball into the box was chested down cleanly by Nem and incredibly he pointed to the spot. It was amazingly ajudged to have hit his arm! There was absolutely no doubt in anybodys mind that a travesty had occured. For a moment I thought there was going to be a pitch invasion such was the anger of the crowd. Nuno Gomes reaction after converting the penalty was disgusting and completely anti-sporting behaviour. When Maxi Bevacqua popped up again a couple of minutes later to score the winnerafter 94 minutes. In what looked a tame header it went in off the post to send the majority of the crowd into heaven. The stadium erupted. Offside or not, the goal stood.

The home supporters had gone from jubilation to complete utter outrage to celebrating once again. It was the worst, the best and possibly the most exciting 7 minutes of football I have seen in Braga. I doubt one single person that was in the stadium that day wil ever forget wha happened. Maxi Bevacqua only ever scored 2 goals in his one season at Braga. He will never be forgotten as they both came in that historic win. The headline of A Bola the next day was “JUSTO”. Although the house of Benfica in Braga had been declining to the pointofnot being used an interesting article lay within the pages of A Bola. “Death of the House of Benfica in Braga!” Since then Benfica supporters have never out numbered Braga supporters in Braga and this is unlikely to change for the foreseeable future.

The “Guerreiros do Minho” were born. The passion was instilled by a Benfica Media Circus that badly backfired and it has continued to snowball and grow just as the support of Benfica within the Minho area haswaned considerably. Long may it continue..

Estrela Vermelho 2005 (Red Star Belgrade) “Airport Junkies”

Me and Maria got this crazy idea of heading to the airport. Braga were still a small fish when it came to televising games even if it was a European game against a former European Cup winner. Only those with satalite dishes which were few and far between in Braga could tune into some little known Serbian TV channel to watch the game live. We later saw a recording and it was certainly a sight to behold. Thousands of red and white flares in a sold out 80,000 seater(I dont think anybody was sitting though) stadium with just about every supporter baying for blood, sweat and tears to be spilt in the pursuit of victory. Only about 20 Braga fans could afford or were willing to risk their lives going to Belgrade chasing a dream. The civil war was over but the supporters and the people of the country had little or nothing to shout about.

Joao Carlos ( a good friend who a few years later invited us to his wedding) gave his account of the intensity and intimidation they witnessed that day. Prior to thematch they were order bythe police to remove alls colours, scarves, jerseys, coats or anything that had the Braga symbol on it. The Police were not taking any chances and obviously knew the drill of avoiding problems and genuinely didnt want any of the visiting supporters getting hurt or even killed. They were spatonby rival fans and were set up a with a constant barrage of abuse from supporters who dinteven watch the game and only directed hatred owards the very few brave Braga fans who were absolutely no threat to them. To this day I still dislike Serbian teams and I am happy when I see them getting dumped out of European competitions. They bring absolutely no glory onto themselves by their disgraceful behaviour. Braga bravely carved out a 0-0 draw which gav themevery chance of qualifying for the next round if they could edge a win in the home leg. It was a remarkable result considering the athmosphere and the teams inexperience playing in European football.

So off to the airport we went. We were met at the airport by three other hardy souls and Braga fans who had had the same bright idea and we must have waited nearly two hours for the delayed flight to arrive. We only nodded in aknowledgement to the other three Braga supporters as in those days there was a slight uncomfortableness(is that a word? – It is now!) about being a Braga and also possibly due to the fact we were 5 nutcases in an airport with no destination and only to geta quick glimpse of our heroes returning from battle. They hadn’t even won the game and we(at least myself and Maria) had not even seen the game! I can’t even rememeber if we acknowledged the player when they arrived through the arrival gates at about 340am that night.

There was one lasting moment that I wont forget. The players and the rest of the travelling party had obviously left Belgrade in a hurry because as soon as they got into the main arrivals lounge three players headed directly to a peanut vending machine. Hunger was taking hold of the athletes. It’s quite possible that they had left a hostile country that day without eating dinner or maybe they just didn’t trust the food in a place where they were given such a bad reception. I can’t remember whothe players where but I think Vandinho was one of them. As the three of them struggled and took turns trying to get the damned machine working we were breaking our hearts laughing at thescene from about three metres away. I don’teven remember if they managed to get any peanuts in the end or if they just gave up and walked away in frustration! There were five of us that day. The Braga was starting to take hold. Years later it would be thousands of supporters in that same airport with no time or space to stop for peanuts!

Semana à Perrichon

Para toda a gente que assistiu aos dois jogos do S. C. de Braga da semana passada.

Eu saúdo-vos!

Nunca na vida vivemos tamanha emoção. De um futebol cheio de fantasia na segunda parte do jogo contra o Guimarães até ao apito final do empate contra o Dínamo de Kiev. Já assisti a muitos jogos emocionantes mas nunca senti tanta intensidade como na semana passada, do primeiro ao último minuto. Os jogos, a semana, o futebol tanto sublime como pobre, os adeptos, o “speaker” no Estádio e o número de novos pequenos adeptos que acompanham o S.C. Braga.

Este é aquele momento que fica gravado e sobre o qual um dia contaremos aos nossos netos “Lembro-me quando…” tal qual os nossos pais nos falam do dia em que o Braga ganhou a Taça de Portugal em 1966.

Não foi um momento à Perrichon. Foi uma semana à Perrichon!

Não vai ser necessariamente recordada por algum lance especial ou pelos golos. Nem nenhum nome vai ficar especialmente ligado a estes momentos. Tudo e todos, o treinador, jogadores, presidente, quem se sentou ao nosso lado no estádio, “speaker”, o cartão vermelho, o penalty, o boicote dos visitantes, bandeiras, cachecóis, o ambiente, a felicidade num estado puro, as celebrações na Av. Central… e ainda não acabou… Ainda há muito para disputar, incluindo a semi-final (e quem sabe uma viagem a Dublin) e a luta pelo terceiro lugar na Liga.

Empatar com o Nacional não foi a pior coisa do mundo no entanto não podemos consentir um golo no minuto final. Acho que a equipa aprendeu mais uma lição. Não podemos distrair-nos até ao apito final. E a mesma situação já aconteceu esta época contra o Paços de Ferreira. Mas desde o jogo contra o Paços, a equipa mudou muito. Agora temos uma equipa que luta durante 90 minutos.

Na semi-final temos que lutar sempre pela posse de bola, os adeptos vão apoiar a equipa do primeiro ao último minuto, temos de ir cedo para o estádio para estarmos com a equipa logo no aquecimento e mostrarmos aos nossos heróis a fé que temos neles.

Não somos os únicos a viver este sonho. O sonho é dos adeptos mas é também o sonho de qualquer jogador poder chegar a uma final europeia. Estamos todos a viver e a lutar pelos mesmos sonhos!

O Sr. João, “Johnny”, é um adepto da velha escola. Espero que não o esteja a insultar ao dizer que deve andar pelos 70 anos e é um adepto fervoroso do Braga. Conheci o Sr. João há cerca de 3 anos atrás quando discutíamos futebol num café que ambos frequentávamos. Desde logo o Sr. João insistiu que lhe chamasse “Johnny” e que dispensasse o tratamento mais formal usado na língua portuguesa. Johnny cresceu a apoiar um clube de Lisboa e o Leixões, clube da terra que o viu nascer. Quando veio residir para Braga nos anos 80 começou a ir ver os jogos do Braga, tornando-se associado deste clube. Após algumas semanas desde o nosso primeiro encontro, Johnny mostrou-me orgulhosamente o seu cartão de sócio. Coincidência das coincidências, senta-se apenas 4 cadeiras ao meu lado! A partir daqui, eu já era o “vizinho”. Quando o encontrei no último jogo, não resisti perguntar-lhe, ao ouvido, quem iria apoiar no próximo jogo (caso passássemos o Dínamo). A sua reacção foi instantânea e respondeu alto e bom som “O Braga, claro!”. Se Johnny não fosse um senhor tão bem educado, tenho a certeza que até haveria um palavrão ali pelo meio. Muita gente acha que “os velhos não mudam” mas o Johnny é uma prova de que não é bem assim… portanto, são “6 milhões” menos um! Mais uma lâmpada que se apagou!

Esta semana decidi que ía ser cordial com os nossos rivais e não utilizei palavras como lampiões, tripeiros, lagartos ou espanhóis. Só para não hostilizar…

Foi difícil, mas consegui!

SC Braga 3 – 1 Vitoria De Guimaraes / 2011 / Hino Nacional / HD

Some days you will never forget..

” A Perrichon week”

 

For every single person that assisted Braga’s two games last week. I salute you! Never before have we experienced such emotion during games. From pure fatasy football in the second half against Guimaraes to the nail bitingly historic quarter final draw against Dinamo Kiev. I have lived many fleeting moments of bliss but never before have I witnessed it so intensely from the first minute to the last minute. The games, the week, the football from sublime to pure rubbish, the fans, the stadium announcer and the amount of young fans following Braga. This was a “I remember when” moment(or week) that we will tell our grandchildren about just like our mothers and fathers and their parents tell us about Braga’s cup win in the 1966. It wasn’t just a “Perrichon moment”, it was a “Perrichon week!” Nor will it be remembered by fleeting moments or goals. Nor will only one or two names be remembered. The manager, the players, the president, who sat beside you in the stadium, the stadium announcer, the red card, the penalty, the boycott, the flags, the scarfs, the athmosphere, the pure unadulterated joy, Avenida Central… And it hasn’t finished yet… There is plenty to go including a semi final(and maybe a trip to Dublin) and the fight for third place in the league.

The trophy is lifted after Perrichons goal gave Braga the 1966 cup

 

Drawing with Nacional was not the worst thing in the world. I think the team will learn a very valuable lesson from conceding a goal in injury time. In the semi final we must once again fight for every single ball, the fans must sing from the first minute to the last, we must get to the stadium early and show the team when they enter the pitch that we are willintg to sacrifice some time to arive early for a game and show our belief in them. It was a lesson we all know about conceding points at the end of a game. It also happened to us in Pacos this season. but that team is no the team we have now. We now have a team that fights for everything and everybody for 90 minutes. We are not the only ones that are livign a dream. This is what every living footballer lives for. We are all living and fighting for the same dream.

"They can still learn!"

“Johnny” is an in old school supporter. I hope I don’t insult him now by saying that he is in his early 70′s and a crazy Braga fan. I met Sr. Joao nearly three years ago discussing football with strangers in a cafe. Straight away Sr. Joao showed his class by insisting that I called him “Johnny” and dispensing with the Royal Portuguese language. “Johnny” grew up supporting “a club from Lisbon” and Leixoes through family circumstances and where he grew up. He started going to Braga games when he began working in Braga in the 80′s and 90′s and became an avid supporter going to as many games as possible. After a few weeks of going to the cafe he took out his Membership(with seat) card to show me the depth of his passion for football and Braga. To my amazement his seat was only 4 seats to my right in the same row in the stadium! “Vizinho” as he sometimes called me! When I saw him in Misericordia an hour before the game last Thursday I could not resist asking The Question.. I whispered in his ear to show him some respect and not to have to say that clubs name from Lisbon out loud. “If we get to the semi final who will you you support?” His reaction was instantaneous. If anything I was shocked at how loud he replied. “Braga claro!” If Johnny wasn’t such a well educated man I’m sure there would have been a “palavrao” in there somewhere! Many people say that the older generation will never change their clubs but “Johnny” has there is hope them all! 6 million less one! Another lamp has been turned off!

This week I’ve tried really hard not to insult any of our rivals so Idecided to leave out words like Lampioes, Tripeiros, Lagartos and Espanois. It was extremely difficult but I am very happy that I managed to do it!

If you don’t feel the passion you will never understand… Part 2

Braga v Sevilha – 18th August 2010

Once again we were the underdog. This time there was no doubts. Sevilha were a team full of class and had wonthe UEFA cup twice in recent history. No supporter had doubts about the uphill task that we faced. For now we had to be content that we had got past Celtic and one step closer to the Champions League group stages. On another beautiful day a couple of  beer were had in front of  Cafe Brasileira to ease the tension. It was going to be a great game and Braga fans were really up for it. The game started lively witht he first chance going to Sevilha after only 4 minutes when Luis Fabiano hit the post from a header and the match was set for a tense battle between two teams chasing the millions of euros on offer for qualification to the group stages.  Sevilha dominated possession but could not break down a resolute Braga who ran their guts out to close them down. Braga however did not lie down and after Alan had put in a wonderfuul cross in which the keeper failed to clear properly, Salino blasted the ball over the bar. Moments later Kanoute put the ball inthe back of the Braga net but it was correctly judged to be offside. Sevilha had an amazing 66% of possession in the first half  but it didnt stop Braga fighting and after 44 minutes Miguel Gargia put Matheus though on goal in a one on one but the ball was somthered by Paulop. After about 15 minutes of the second half the Sevilha team started to get frustrated and after Paulo Cesar’s header from a Salino cross was superby stopped by Palop, Matheus was on hand and in the right place at the right moment to score his second Champions League goal of the season. SEvilha started to shake a little and Braga had several chance to make it 2-0. First up was Alans 20 yard curling shot which Palop brlliantly saved. Then Palopo cmae to the rescue again after Salino put Lima though on goal only to have his shot palmed away. On 90 minutes a Lima rocket hit Sevilha’s crossbar and Fabiano had a final shot which sailed into the arms of Felipe.

A tight 1-0 win with a decider set up in Sevilha seven days later. The dream was continuing but the tasks that appeared ahead were greater and greater. Superbraga.com organised a bus to Sevilha. Sandwiches were made and an overnight trip to the south of Spain was days away. The belief in the club and the pure joy of being so close to the giants of European football could be felt everywhere you went. Monday night outside the stadium we got the call. The flag had been found and was going to go on the trip to Sevilha! A member of 2045 delivered the flag minutes before the bus was due to leave. There were people from everywhere on the bus. Ricardo had flown over from Coventry in England, Stuart from Oldham in England(was going onhis first European trip with Braga) and also the Coasts’s from Guimaraes who are dedicated Braga fans. We also had Rui(who has written for this blog before) self labelled “unluckiest Braga traveller” who wereever he goes seems to encounter a broken down bus or car! The athmosphere on the bus was quiet to begin. Some beer and wine and food was eaten and drank to calm the nerves and to get us all throught he night. I myself barely slept at all. The excitement was too much. Arriving in Sevilha on a glorious morning we parked the bus (after a few laps of the city) in the city parking area for buses. Braga had previously been here in 2007 and had lost 2-0. A similar result would send Braga to the Europa League and they would also lose out on the huge payout for qualifying from UEFA.

More tomorrow…

If you don’t feel the passion you will never understand…

It’s been a long road. From the first weeks of Domingos’s reign when the silly season began and certain fans were calling for his head after exiting European football before it had even begun properly. “Rua” they called but thise of little faith did not have any idea of what what coming next. From the get go the league was a blur of victories mixed with emotion never before seen in Braga. It’s true that Jorge Jesus had brought a certain style to Braga and his European adventures to the likes of Milan and Paris had brought a certain international flavour to the fans but his manner of exit was probably one of the most underhand and disgusting episodes of a manager leaving teh club in the history of Sporting Clube de Braga. Jorge Jesus had to forgo bonuses of up to 700,000 plus the transfer of Cesar Peixoto(who lived a constant love hate relationship with the fans) which gave Braga compensation but did very little for their pre-season preparations. Getting knocked out of Europe so early was a blessing in disguise. Braga started the season and led from the first week with Ze Meyong scoring a late winner to ensure leadership of the new campaign as all the other seven games ended on level terms. Braga went on a ten game run winning eight, drawing the ninth and then came the famous day in which marked Braga’s season and which was ultimately to leave the season forever known as the “Season of Tunnels”. When Di Maria(now at Real Madrid) spat towards the bench and kicked the ball in force and the trainers and substitutes all hell broke lose.  Two players were red carded at half time and the second half was left with speculation of what happened in the tunnel at half time. Video was released of what happened. For the record the game finished 2-0 which included a spectacular goal from Hugo Viana.  Soon after false news was reported of Braga attempting to bribe Leixoes players which was later retracted and proved to be false. More speculation that Vandinho of Braga would be banned for up to nine months for aggression against the Benfica assistant manager. Three days before the January transfer ended the Disciplinary Commission sent by mail notice to Braga that Vandinho(Braga’s best player of the first half of the season) was banned for three months fro “attempted agression”. As ridiculous as it seems the video was released were no contact occured and alongside Vandinho two other Braga players were banned for 2 and 3 games respectively. Braga had no time to buy a suitable player who would only return for the final two games of the season. No Benfica player was charged or givena suspension. Whether it had a negative or positive effect we will never know but Andres Madrid came in and showed some of his old skills from 2005 to push Braga and the title race until the final day of the season. Nobody had ever thought after such a poor start to the season getting knocked out of Europe that we would finish runners in the league, Braga’s highest ever position. In the reverse fixture Braga lost 1-0 against Benfica in an ill tempered game in which Marcio Mossoro had hs leg broken in a tackle from behind. Benfica’s manager Jorge Jesus (labelled “The Special Two” by a rival manager Manuel Machado in one of his many moments of sarcasm) continued attempts at insulting Braga throughout the season were met with little or no response from Domingos Pacienca who preferred to let his football do the talking. Jorge Jesus who had brought Braga to the last 16 of the UEFA cup constantly stated that Domingos took over a team that he had built and that it was a team that did not need a manager. Domingos’s response was simple. Jesus had failed to win more than two consecutive games the previous season whereas Pacienca had several times won numerous games in a row including an 8 straight winning run and a season in which he only dropped 2 points at home. Domingos broke several Braga record including most wins in a season(22), most points in a season(71), most consecutive wins in a season, least amount of defeats in a season(3) amongst others. Domingos proved beyond doubt that even if Jesus had given them a certain style that it was Domingos that had shown them how to be  a team.

At the end of the season SuperBraga.com arranged a dinner in honour of Domingos Pacienca along with his technical team and 330 crazy supporters. I had the huge privledge of being asked to speak(and in my distinctively Foreigner style Portuguese) in front of everybody. At this stage nobody knew if Domingos Pacienca would stay or go. He had still not signed a new contract and so amonst my unprepared speech I pleaded on behalf of the fans for him to continue his good work. Obviously my words(if he understood my mutterings) had no affect but he ended up signing again which made just about every Braga fan happy. the end of the season was a complete contrast from a few people demanding his head to a 100% backing of this great manager.

Braga had Qualified for the Champions league for the first time ever and would be taking a path that had never been travelled. There was some confusion over the draw amongst Braga fans with some people suggesting we could face Tottenham Hotspurs. In the end we ended up getting the top ranked club in the opposite group to us which would be the world reknowned Glasgow Celtic Football Club  which had been founded in 1888 and had previously won the European Cup in 1967. It was expected by the press that Braga would struggle against Celtic and would be the underdog. The days before the game we passed the evening strolling through the town and joining some of the fans that had arrived for a few drinks and to enjoy the athmosphere. The game was on a beautiful summers day and I spent most of the pre match warm up(drinking beer and taking photo) outside Cafe Viana with the Celtic fans. One of the fans “Gonso” l from Spain,will always be remebered and as we brought him into Misericordia for a last beer before the game. On the final walk down to the bar Gonso broke out in a huge rendition of SLB FDP SLB which brought the crowd down and instantly made him a hit with the local fans. For those of you that dont know the bar in Misericordia also doubles as a “Posto de Medico”(Medical Centre) which is helpful if you ever have a few too many beers. *(I’m not sure if it’s still a Medical Centre but the sign is still there!)   History was on the side of Celtic and Braga although they had an amzing season beside them were expected to step aside and let the Scottish club through to the final qualifying round. But history as always is meant to be broken and as Matheus’s piledriver sailed into the net the Braga fans erupted for the third time and Celtic fans heart were broken as Braga ran out easy 3-0 winners. The return leg was almost impossible to watch but I was one of the lucky people to see the game thanks to iragigoals.net which we linked up to a big screen. Paulo Cesar’s first half goal killed off the game but Celtic kept up their never say die attitude and won the game 2-1 but losing the tie 4-2 on aggregate. After 80 minutes of the game, over-officious UEFA officials ordered the stewards to remove my Irish flag. Why they waited 80 minutes will never be known but the flag was nowhere to be seen at the end of the game and its disappearance had been a mystery to me as I did not know at the time what had happened. Some eagle eyed Braga supporters from SuperBraga.com had recorded the game and taken frames from the recording showing the stewards removing the flag. Other people at the game had said it was due to the UEFA officials that it had been removed. PLATINI 1 KARL 0

Sevilha FC were next up with the prize being a place in the Group Stages of the Champions League.

to be continued……

BRAGA RUGBY

O Braga Rugby em conjunto com a
Equipa de Rugby da Universidade do Minho vão realizar um treino aberto ao público para todos aqueles que queiram ficar a conhecer a modalidade.

Sábado, 21 de Maio · 10:00 – 13:00

Percam o preconceito, pois vai ser um treino apenas com gente que se esteja a iniciar…

O treino será dado por jogadores e treinadores do Braga Rugby

Evento no Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=144563075610318

Para todos os sexos e idades

NÃO FALTEM !