Roma vs Sporting Braga

Estádio Municipal de Albufeira forms the backdrop for a handsomely-looking summer friendly between Sporting Braga and Roma.

Sporting Braga’s pre-season is in the advanced stages as they warm up for the upcoming Champions League qualification battle following a third-place finish in last season’s Primeira Liga. Artur Jorge’s men have excelled in their early summer assignments, winning all four exhibition matches by an aggregate score of 10-2, including three victories ‘to nil’ before a dramatic 3-2 triumph over Bristol City last time out. An impressive off-season form should bolster Braga’s bid to avenge a brace of defeats in their only previous meetings with Roma, going down 2-0 and 3-1 in both legs of their 2020/21 Europa League knockout tie. The ‘Archbishops’ have gone from strength to strength at home, racking up ten wins in their last 13 games at home (D2, L1).

On the other hand, beaten Europa League finalists Roma are well behind Braga in the preparations, with this marking the beginning of their pre-season following a 2-1 victory over Spezia on the final day of last season’s Serie A. That win was hardly sufficient to erase the memory of a penalty shoot-out heartache against Sevilla in the Europa League title decider, which formed part of a four-match winless run in all competitions (D2, L2) before the abovementioned success against ‘Aquilotti.’ Despite their patch form, ‘I Giallorossi’ have been fun to watch, with three of their last four outings featuring over 2.5 goals and both teams on the scoresheet. Worryingly for head coach Jose Mourinho, his men have only won once in their 14 games outside the Stadio Olimpico since late January (D5, L8).