Our live match stream ahead of Thursday evening’s Europa League fixture SC Braga v Leicester City is now up, kicking off at 5:55pm BST.
You can keep an eye on the commentary as it happens below, but first, we take a preview into the fixture, the lineups, predictions and much more.
In each side’s previous games, Leicester lost 3-0 away to Liverpool who moved level on points with Tottenham at the top of the Premier League table while Leicester stay fourth.
Braga managed to beat Trofense 2-1 in the Third Round of the Taca de Portugal competition, getting a late winning in the 93rd minute. In the Primeira Liga, they sit 2nd.
A win in Portugal will not only keep up the Foxes’s 100 per cent record in the competition, but will send them into the last 32. And if AEK Athens fail to beat Zorya Luhansk, first place in the group will also be secured.
PRESS CONFERENCE:
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers when asked – When will Ricardo be back?
“Hopefully very soon. He played his first competitive football for the Under-23s on Monday which was really good. We hope over these next two to three weeks build up his match fitness and then be playing in the first team. We’re very happy he’s back.
“The Premier League is at a very high level, so we have to make sure his football fitness is up there, but we’re very excited to have him back.”
Rodgers ahead of the game: “You know when you play against other teams in this competition, they will be at a high level because they are used to winning. Our away form has been very good, but we won’t underestimate Braga, despite the result at home. We have to be ready for a tough game.”
Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers when asked about qualification.
“I’ve been very pleased. The group had good teams in it. Our objective starting out was to make sure we qualified. We want to continue that and qualify as early as we can. That would be great for us.”
Rodgers with an injury update: “Timothy hasn’t travelled and we’ll see where he is for Monday. Ndidi is progressing well and we’ll see where he is for the game in Ukraine. Soyuncu, we’ll see where he is in a few weeks.”
“If they don’t win the title this year I believe they will be strong title challengers in future years,” said the ex-Sheffield Wednesday boss Carlos Carvalhal, currently the manager of Braga.
“Leicester are a team who have balance and a big squad with a lot of quality. There has been great investment.
“There are a lot of strong points and that’s a big compliment to Brendan Rodgers, he is one of the best British managers at the moment.
“There is a lot of individual quality, they have a lot of reserves to come in and play at the same level of the existing first team.
“They are a difficult team to contain, that is why they scored five goals against Manchester City and four at Leeds.
“They have strengths but we will look to exploit their weaknesses.
“We won’t change anything about our system. We will press, we are up against a very strong opponent, they have had some great results and Brendan is doing a sensational job.
“We will go into the game without fear looking to get the result we want and that is three points.”
FORM:
Braga Europa League form: WWL
Braga form (all competitions): WWWLWW
Leicester City Europa League form: WWW
Leicester City form (all competitions): WWWWWL
LINEUPS:
Braga possible starting lineup:
Matheus; Esgaio, Viana, Silva, Sequeira; Medeiros, Musrati, Castro, Horta, Galeno; Paulinho
Leicester City possible starting lineup:
Schmeichel; Forfana, Evans, Fuchs; Albrighton, Praet, Choudhury, Thomas; Under, Maddison, Iheanacho
SportsMole predicts:
Braga are set to name a more attacking lineup than they did a few weeks ago and will be keen to avenge what happened when they last played the Foxes.
However, Leicester should once again have the quality to dispatch the Portuguese outfit and confirm their qualification for the last 32 of the Europa League.
Score prediction: Braga 1-3 Leicester City
Now keep up to date with our SC Braga v Leicester live match stream as it happens…
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