Liverpool FC vs SC Braga - Round of 16 Second Leg (17/3/2011), 20.05 pm.

I know....I posted about it yesterday  hopefully it will gather momentum tomorrow.

Did you manage to sell your tickets?

Nope.

Still on sale i think too....

F**k work, im going to it.

The team needs support

Im well up for this game! We should forget about CL and concentrate on what's in front of us. After defeat in the first leg this is set up for a special night and the atmosphere should be bouncing regardless that's it europa league.

Hope you enjoy the city and the game if not the result magic braga  2.0 to the Reds!

Have to admit I am worried about this one.

I didnt think they were anything special on their home patch but without Gerrard we lack drive and creativity.

Hoping for a 2-0 win but think we will need 3 as I expect them to nick 1 goal.

Some stats before the game.

Jamie Carragher will equal Emlyn Hughes's club record of 45 appearances in the competition if he figures in tonight's Europa League clash with SC Braga at Anfield. Here are all the rest of the big match stats.
 

Liverpool's European record (overall):  Pld 327 Won 185 Drawn 71 Lost 71

Liverpool's record in Fairs/UEFA Cup/Europa League: Pld 116 Won 64 Drawn 28 Lost 24 

The Reds have won 7 and drawn 1 of the previous 9 meetings with Portuguese opponents at Anfield. The only defeat they have suffered came in the Champions League in 2006 when they were beaten 2-0 by Benfica.

Sporting Braga are Liverpool's 113th different European opponent and the fifth from Portugal following Vitoria Setubal, Benfica, Porto and Boavista.

Liverpool are unbeaten in their last 10 home games in Europe since losing to Fiorentina in December 2009.

Pepe Reina could make his 300th appearance for Liverpool tonight. He will become the 6th Liverpool goalkeeper to achieve the feat following Ray Clemence, Bruce Grobbelaar, Elisha Scott, Tommy Lawrence and Arthur Riley. Pepe has kept 141 clean sheets.

Liverpool have gone into a European second leg at Anfield 12 times having lost 1-0 in the first game. On 8 occasions they have progressed.

Of the 4 they have failed to get through, 2 have come against Portuguese opposition. Vitoral Setubal lost 3-2 in the second leg of a Fairs Cup tie in 1969-70 but won on the away goals rule while Benfica in the Champions League in 2005-06 won 2-0 on the night to reach the quarter-finals.

4 Anfield ties have gone into extra-time in European competition. In 1968-69 Athletic Bilbao won on the toss of a coin after extra time had failed to produce a winner in a Fairs Cup First Round tie. The Reds famously defeated Chelsea on penalties in the 2007 Champions League semi-final while Dirk Kuyt's 117th minute winner settled the qualifying tie with Standard Liege in 2008.

Last season Atletico Madrid lost 2-1 in front of the Kop but became the second team to eliminate the Reds at Anfield after the extra period.

Liverpool have participated in 3 European penalty shoot-outs and won them all - all in the European Cup. They beat Roma and AC Milan in the Finals of 1984 and 2005 respectively and beat Chelsea in that Semi-Final in 2007.

Andy Carroll became the 32nd player used by Liverpool in Europe this season in the first leg in Braga. He has yet to start a European game in his career having played twice, also as a substitute, for Newcastle in their 2006-07 UEFA Cup run.

The Reds have conceded just 5 goals in 13 European games this season.

No team has scored more than 1 goal in a European game against Liverpool in the last 16 matches since Benfica scored twice in April 2010.

Dirk Kuyt has scored 15 goals for Liverpool in Europe (level with Terry McDermott) and is now 2 behind Roger Hunt who is in 4th place on the club's all time scorers list with 17.

David Ngog is the Reds leading scorer in Europe this season with 5 goals though he has not scored in his last 5 Europa League games.

Both Lucas and Christian Poulsen are a yellow card away from a one match ban.

The Reds have not lost in 14 Europa League and UEFA Cup games at Anfield since a 2-0 Quarter-Final loss to Celtic in March 2003.

Braga's European record (overall):  Pld 73 Won 34 Drawn 10 Lost 29

Braga's record in Fairs/UEFA Cup/Europa League: Pld 51 Won 20 Drawn 9 Lost 22

They have never won the league title in Portugal and lifted the Cup once in 1965-66.

They are nicknamed 'The Arsenalists' due to the resemblance of their home kit to that of the Gunners.

This is the 3rd time they have reached the last 16 of this competition - all in the last 5 seasons doing so previously in 2006-07 (losing to Tottenham) and 2008-09 (being eliminated by Paris St Germain).

This is their 7th successive season in European competition.

Braga have won 2 and lost 4 of their 6 away games in Europe this season. They won 4-3 at Sevilla in a Champions League play-off and 1-0 at Partizan in the group stages.

Lima scored a 32-minute second half hat-trick in Braga's 4-3 win at Sevilla in that Play-Off game. 

Hugo Viana made one of his 61 appearances for Newcastle United against Liverpool in a 2-2 draw at Anfield in September 2002.

Last week Alan scored Braga's 100th goal in European competition.

Their biggest European defeat was the 6-0 reverse they suffered at the Emirates against Arsenal in their Champions League group back in September.

Liverpool are Braga's 6th different English opponent in Europe having already played West Brom, Tottenham (twice), Bolton, Portsmouth and Arsenal.

They have never won on English soil having lost 4 times and drawn 1-1 at Bolton in the UEFA Cup Group Stage in 2007-08, in their 5 visits.                 

Braga have never reached the quarter-finals of this competition.

Braga have lost 3 of their last 4 European away games without scoring, conceding 9 times in the process.

Like Liverpool, Braga had the weekend off.

Away from home in league and cup they have lost 1 of the last 5 games - at Lech Poznan in the last round of the Europa League.

They have never been involved in a penalty shoot-out in Europe.

liverpoolfc.tv

F**k spearing and poulsen right off. If I see either of them starting then im going home.


                          Reina

Carragher     Sotis        Skrtel        Johnson

Cole           Meireles    Lucas         Maxi

                 Carroll      Kuyt   

very good lineup

I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried about this game. I do think we'll go through, just, but we need to not concede a goal or it makes our job 3x harder.

We also need a good performance in the Europa league which hasn't happened for a while.

Hard to think of a line up where I'll be happy with it, just shows how weak our squad it.

                 Renia

Johnson  Carragher  Skrtel  Wilson

           Lucas   Meireles
                 Cole

Kuyt          Carroll           Maxi

From the squad posted earlier it looks like the first eleven in the list would be the starters. Should be a good enough team. Would love to see Carroll and Dani coming on early in the second half to give us a good win

From the squad posted earlier it looks like the first eleven in the list would be the starters. Should be a good enough team. Would love to see Carroll and Dani coming on early in the second half to give us a good win

Yeah. Looks like it. Probably going to be:

                                         Reina

Carragher           Kyrgiakos                   Skrtel                 Johnson

                                        Spearing

                        Meireles                     Lucas

Maxi                                                                          Cole

                                         Kuyt

Nice to see Agger back in the squad. Hopefully Pacheco and Carroll would come on as substitutes.

Slightly worried for this because it would change things if they score an away goal and we have none. Imagine this happens - Meireles scores a 30 yard volley in the 85th minute and it's 2005 all over again

That's exactly the line up and shape I was thinking Ad. Looking forward to this. Early goal for us would make this a good game.

I think we need an early goal to to put pressure on Braga, so they cant get all there men behind the goal.
Means more chances and more space for the front men.
Should be a red win tonight, hopefully by enough.

Calmed my 9-0 prediction down,
Put a bet on 5-0.

Come on you Redmen , I'm sure you'll stroll past em with The Kop behind your boys

Yes I know, we've been spoiled with champions league football for so long that Europa league feels less important, which it isn't.

I'm hoping it lightens up. Although most of the Europa league games have been very boring this year.

Well you do receive consideraly less money for participating in EL than CL.

That's exactly the line up and shape I was thinking Ad. Looking forward to this. Early goal for us would make this a good game.

Would still prefer Cole to play in a more central position though

Would rather Meireles in the hole myself. Cole and Maxi/Kuyt off in the second half

Just worked out, if I work like a maniac and pedal like Chris Hoy, I might make it home before half the first half is played, leaving early for work as well, so shouldn't lose any pay.  Probably shouldn't have 'typed' this out loud, somethings guaranteed to go wrong now.

We are L.F.C. if anyone can turn this fixture around then it's us !
I'm supremely confident we can do this, unfortunately I've gone for 1-0 to us in the prediction league, so we're gonig to have to win this in Extra time or on pens for me to get maximum points , But the next round is our goal no matter how it's achieved ! COME ON YOU REDS, Y.N.W.A. !

If they score a goal we are doomed as we lack scoring punch up fron carrol will only be a sub. just getting very negative vibes about this game after some toothless displays.

Is Carrol confirmed to be on the bench for this game?

Is Carrol confirmed to be on the bench for this game?

The team has not been confirmed yet so we have no idea if Carroll is starting or on the brnch

Okay just checking since Wallbanger said he will only be a sub

Would rather Meireles in the hole myself. Cole and Maxi/Kuyt off in the second half

Haha RedLFC

I knew I was leaving myself open there