Sporting de Braga will face Betis on April 8, in the match that marks the start of the first leg of the Europa League quarter-finals, UEFA announced on Thursday.
The game between Minho and Andalusians will be the only one in the competition taking place that dayon a Wednesday, from 5:45 pm, at the Braga Municipal Stadium, having been brought forward due to UEFA regulations, which prevent two clubs from the same country that are within a radius of 50 kilometers of each other from playing on the same day.
In this way, the other Portuguese team present in the competition, FC Porto will play at home against the English side of Nottingham Forest on April 9th, Thursday, the day on which the remaining matches will be played, all at 8pm (Lisbon time).
As FC Porto ranked better than Sporting de Braga in the league stage, whenever the two teams play at home in the same European round, ‘dragons’ take precedence on game dayso it is the Braga team’s match that has to be brought forward, just like what happened in the second leg of the round of 16.
FC Porto eliminated Stuttgart in the round of 16 of the Europa League, winning 2-1 away and 2-0 at home, on Thursday, while Sporting de Braga beat Ferencváros 4-0, on Wednesday, after losing 2-0 in Hungary, in the first leg.
In addition to Sporting de Braga-Betis and FC Porto-Nottingham Forest, the quarter-finals of the Europa League also include clashes between Bologna-Aston Villa and Freiburg-Celta de Vigo.
The return matches are all scheduled for April 16, with only Celta de Vigo-Friburgo starting at 5:45 pm, and the others at 8 pm.
