A month and a half after facing each other at Municipal de Braga in the 5th round of the I League, “arsenalistas” and “vitorianos” met again on the same stage, but this time, it was Sp. Braga came out on top. In the fight for a place in the semi-finals of the League Cup, it was V. Guimarães who scored first, but the Braga team turned around and, with the 2-1 victory, continue in the fight to revalidate the title won last season.
Whatever the competition, the main derby do Minho is always an intense duel and, with Sp. Braga and V. Guimarães going through moments of lack of shine, the confrontation between Braga and Guimarães, even in the lowest rated of national competitions, does not allow great management for any coach.
Thus, Carlos Carvalhal launched his main weapons into the eleven, keeping Uruguayan Salazar on the bench, who has lost prominence after an excellent start to the season. On the other hand, the new addition to Rui Borges’ options was Charles in goal instead of Bruno Varela, keeping Victorian coach Nelson Oliveira as a reference in the attack, supported by Kaio César, Tiago Silva and Nuno Santos. And it was through the feet of two of V. Guimarães’ creative players that the play ended, at 10′, in the first goal.
Although the domain initially belonged to Sp. Braga, the first time V. Guimarães approached Matheus’ goal in danger, took the lead: Tiago Silva combined with João Mendes, who found Nuno Santos in the area and the “77”, with great quality, placed the ball in the angle of the goal.
The goal unnerved the Braga fans and caused dissatisfaction in the stands, but the Sp. Braga players had little time to feel that discomfort. A dozen minutes later, Niakaté took advantage of a flaw in the Victorian defense to easily make it 1-1.
From then on, the game gained intensity and quality, but despite it being Sp. Braga got closer to the goal – Roger Fernandes hit the crossbar, at 40′ -, the break arrived with everything equal.
The second half started with Salazar and El Ouazzani in Braga, but the game remained “tied up” until the 70th minute, when referee Fábio Veríssimo, after consulting the images, awarded a penalty in favor of Sp. Braga and showed a second yellow card to Borevkovic. On the second attempt – Charles found himself ahead of the game at the time of the first kick – Bruma made it 2-1.
Winning and with a numerical advantage, the “arsenalistas” resisted the Victorian attempts to “break the game” in the final minutes and, achieving security in possession of the ball, preserved until the end the result that allowed Sp. Braga, at the beginning of January, will fight with Benfica for their presence in the League Cup final.
