15 March 2007, by Sean Gillen

UEFA Cup: Brave Braga knocked out by impressive Tottenham

Tottenham Hotspur 3-2 Braga (agg. 6-4)

Braga bowed out of the Uefa Cup on Wednesday evening after another high scoring encounter with Premiership side Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane.

Jorge Costa’s men, already 3-2 down after defeat in Portugal, took the lead in London, but then had to come from behind to draw level before Steed Malbranque’s goal sealed Spurs’ passage into the quarter-finals.

Jorge Costa: “I feel tonight we were very close to a dream.”

Despite going into the match as clear favourites and with a lead from the first leg, the English side showed plenty of intent in the early stages, and Braga struggled to get out of their half in the opening twenty minutes.

However, the visitors stunned the home crowd by taking the lead against the run of play on 24 minutes when Andrade’s free-kick was flicked into his own net off the head of Spurs midfielder Tom Huddleston.

The lead lasted less than five minutes, with the Tottenham strike force again proving too difficult for Braga to handle. Dimitar Berbatov, who caused the Portuguese so many problems in the home leg, played a neat one-two with Robbie Keane before coolly poking the ball past Paulo Santos.

Santos shines again

As was the case at the Municipal last week, Paulo Santos was again called into action to keep the visitors in the match as the Portuguese goalkeeper brilliantly denied Berbatov, before managing to stop Malbranque’s effort soon after.

Braga conceded again in disappointing fashion shortly before the break when Huddlestone’s quickly taken free-kick found Berbatov unchallenged inside the box and the Bulgarian controlled superbly before connecting with an unstoppable volley to put his team two goals ahead on aggregate.

The Arsenalistas knew they needed two goals in the second half to force extra time, and they scored just after the hour mark, during their best period in the game. Andrade had already curled one free-kick wide when he hammered a ferocious effort through the wall from 25 metres that gave Cerny no chance.

With the next goal destined to be the decider, Spurs raised their game once again and it was left to Malbranque, a scorer in the first leg, to finish the tie. Berbatov was again involved, picking the French midfielder out inside the area and Malbranque lifted the ball past Paulo Santos to seal a deserved win for the Premiership side.

PortuGOAL man of the match:
Andrade - A solid individual performance from the Brazilian was crowned with a stunning free-kick to keep Braga’s hopes alive.

Tottenham:
Cerny, Stalteri, Dawson, Chimbonda, Young-Pyo Lee, Lennon (Ghaly 81), Huddlestone, Zokora, Malbranque, Keane (Defoe 66), Berbatov
Yellow Cards: Berbatov (31), Malbranque (89)

Braga:
Paulo Santos, Luis Filipe, Paulo Jorge, Rodriguez (Nem 40), Carlos Fernandes, Frechaut, Madrid, Joao Amaral, Joao Pinto (Cesinha 74), Ze Carlos (Maciel 74), Wender
Yellow Cards: Amaral (54), Joao Pinto (70), Luis Filipe (86)

Goals:
[0-1] Huddlestone, 24 (o.g.)
[1-1] Berbatov, 28
[2-1] Berbatov, 42
[2-2] Andrade, 61
[3-2] Malbranque, 76