Braga (Por) vs TSC (Srb) prediction: EUROPE: Champions League – Qualification betting tips on match 2023-08-07 19:00.
Braga ended the 2022/23 campaign with a disappointing 2-0 Taça de Portugal final defeat but will return to action having posted a near-perfect pre-season schedule (W5, D1). Consequently brimming with confidence, Braga are aiming for just a third UEFA Champions League (UCL) group stage appearance at the expense of last season’s Serbian SuperLiga runners-up, TSC Bačka Topola.
The Portuguese outfit will enter this clash as rightful favourites, given both their home league form to end last season (W9, D1) and because the Primeira Liga holds a considerably stronger UEFA coefficient than Serbia’s top-flight. Despite the apparent drop in quality, ex-TSC stopper Nikola Bursać, who now plies his trade in the Portuguese top-flight with Vizela, has warned Braga that his former side “should not be underestimated”, despite the fact they hold the lowest coefficient ranking of any side left in the competition.
Having lost a host of players over the summer, including Bursać and last season’s top-scorer Petar Ratkov, TSC have begun this campaign with something of a new look squad. Wholesale changes haven’t stopped them from hitting the ground running in their new domestic campaign (W1, D1), scoring six goals in the process and three against European regulars Partizan Belgrade.
Unlike their esteemed hosts, TSC have no real European pedigree to speak of besides a Europa League second qualifying round exit at the hands of Romanian outfit FCSB back in 2020/21. We can paint a picture of the size difference of these clubs by the very fact that you could fit the approximate 15,000 population of the town Bačka Topola in Braga’s stadium twice over with tickets to spare!
Players to watch: Braga’s top league scorer from last season, Ricardo Horta, will hope to hit the ground running after scoring in five of his last eight domestic games, a run which included three match openers. Whilst TSC have lost considerable talent, they retained the services of the 2022/23 SuperLiga Player of the Season, Saša Jovanović, one of only three players to hit double figures in both goals and assists en route to his personal accolade (G10, A12).
Hot stat: All four of Braga’s four home games against Serbian opponents produced exactly two goals (W2, D2).