SC Braga faced SC Freiburg at the Estádio Municipal de Braga for the first leg of the UEFA Europa League semi-finals, which ended with a 2-1 win for Braga, giving them a slight advantage ahead of the second leg.

Braga are continuing an exceptional European journey this season, eliminating Ferencváros and Real Betis in the knockout phase.

With their win against Freiburg, they have made a step forward towards reaching the final, even though they will need to be very attentive to the way they approach the second leg, as things will be different in Germany.

On the other hand, Freiburg failed to get the advantage but succeeded in scoring an important goal to keep everything possible in the second leg.

The German team’s journey was a bit similar to that of Braga, as they have eliminated KRC Genk, plus Celta Vigo, another Spanish side.

In this tactical analysis, we focus mainly on Braga’s defensive approach and use of a high defensive block, in addition to focusing on their attacking performance and ideas.

SC Braga Vs SC Freiburg Lineups & Formations

SC Braga Lineup Vs SC Freiburg

Head coach Carlos Vicens used a 3-4-1-2 formation with Lukáš Horníček as a goalkeeper, Gustaf Lagerbielke, Vítor Carvalho, and Paulo Oliveira as centre-backs, and both Victor Gómez and Ricardo Horta as wing-backs.

The midfield was made up of Demir Tıknaz and João Moutinho as central midfielders, and Jean-Baptiste Gorby as an advanced playmaker behind both strikers, Pau Víctor and Rodrigo Zalazar.

SC Freiburg Lineup Vs SC Braga

On the other side, Julian Schuster relied on a 4-2-3-1 formation with Noah Atubolu as a goalkeeper, and a back-four composed of Matthias Ginter, Philipp Lienhart as centre-backs, Philipp Treu as a right-back, and Jordy Makengo as a left-back.

The midfield included Maximilian Eggestein and Johan Manzambi as central midfielders, with Yuito Suzuki as an advanced playmaker.

In attack, Vincenzo Grifo and Jan-Niklas Beste played as wingers, supporting the main striker Igor Matanović.

Figure 1

SC Braga Style Of Play

SC Braga High Line Defensive Style

Braga started the match with more ambition to score compared to Freiburg, who had to defend inside their own half during the initial minutes and were obliged to resist Braga’s well-executed set-pieces and progression.

Braga adopted a high-line defensive block from the start of the match, and their intention was to keep Freiburg away from the final third, as that would minimise the risks of conceding an early goal and give Braga a better chance of intercepting the ball and launching attacks more frequently.

Playing with such tight lines and keeping the team compact while moving as a unit helped Braga reduce many of Freiburg’s threats and eventually limit their attacking chances, especially in that first period of the game.

The following image illustrates the disciplined organisation of Braga’s lines and the fact that they were very close to each other, mostly inside Freiburg’s half.

Furthermore, it highlights the man-marking applied to all of Freiburg’s players during this goal kick, limiting the goalkeeper’s options and obliging him or his teammates to opt for long passes even if he succeeds in finding a first short passing option.

Braga attacked Freiburg’s potential first-pass receiver with three and sometimes four players at the same time, yet in an intelligent way that left no option for that ball receiver other than launching a long pass.

Figure 2

SC Braga Defensive Approach Weaknesses & Negatives

The main issue with Braga’s defensive performance in this match was that they conceded a goal due to a poor decision in dealing with a situation during which Braga were using a high line.

This action cost Braga a goal and can prove very impactful on aggregates following the second leg.

The lack of communication and reaction in this action was crucial, as two of Braga’s players were trying to clear the ball with headers at the same spot, which led to a header that lacked power towards their teammate.

Freiburg exploited this confusion and knew that intercepting the ball in that midfield area would create a perfect goalscoring opportunity for them.

Freiburg were therefore quicker and more reactive than Carvalho, who was surprised by the header and failed to reach the ball before the Freiburg player, who succeeded with a single touch in creating the goalscoring opportunity for his teammates.

Freiburg’s defenders were obviously unable to recover on time as they were too distant from the goal, something that allowed Freiburg to reach the box with two players and score without being disturbed or marked.

Freiburg will therefore need to address this high-line issue and find solutions for similar situations, whether by dropping the defensive block a bit further or by training on an automatic retreat from specific players as soon as an interception becomes possible.

Figure 3