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UEFA Cup, Round One, 1st leg - 14/9/06

Sporting Braga 2-0 Chievo
Paulo Jorge 6 (S), Wender 92 pen (S)
Stadio Municipal, Braga

Chievo have a UEFA Cup mountain to climb after their nine men were defeated 2-0 at Sporting Braga. The Italian outfit fell behind to an early goal and conceded a late killer blow which may prove to be fatal in their European adventure this season.

Following their Champions League elimination to Levski Sofia, Bepi Pillon took his Flying Donkeys to Portugal for what looked to be a tough test on paper. That certainly seemed to be the case just six minutes into the tie when Braga rippled the net. Some slack Verona defending allowed Paulo Jorge all the time needed to comfortably give his side a 1-0 lead.

It was a another painful slap for the Italian minnows who opened their Serie A campaign on Sunday with a shock 2-1 home loss to Siena. They took their time to regain their composure but were finding it tough to break down Sporting, who didn’t really seem interested in really attacking the Gialloblu in the remainder of the first period.

Chievo carved themselves an opportunity on 16 minutes through Salvatore Bruno, but he dragged his shot wide of the far post. They then appealed for a penalty 10 minutes later when a Brago defender seemed to handle the ball in the area, but the Belgian official waved play on. The half ended with Chievo seemingly in control of the ball, yet they looked stale in attack.

The Portuguese outfit were quickly out of the blocks once the game resumed. Joao Pinto attempted to double his side’s lead with a right-footed 51st minute effort, before the woodwork saved the Italian boys just a few minutes later. First half substitute Maciel tried his luck only for the ball to strike the crossbar.

There was only one side in the game by this stage and it was unfortunately the hosts – who were much improved from the first 45 minutes. Only an excellent save from Lorenzo Squizzi, the club’s No 2 this season, kept out Maciel’s stunning strike.

That scare seemed to finally awake Chievo who managed to ask a few questions of the Braga rearguard. Denis Godeas, making his European debut for Chievo following his Palermo move, went for a spectacular overhead kick but his effort lacked power. The latter then wasted a 73rd minute opportunity as he shot wide of goal.

However, Chievo should perhaps have already equalised by that stage. Bruno got on the end of a corner, but the striker’s header was cleared off the line by a well-positioned Braga stopper.

It had looked like Chievo would leave Portugal with a 1-0 loss but things took a turn for the worse late on. Giovanni Marchese was sent off for two yellows, before Andrea Mantovani saw red too after giving away a penalty for bringing down Maciel. Wender stepped up to give his side a 2-0 win in injury time.

Braga: Paulo Santos; Luis Filipe, Paulo Jorge, Nem, Fernandes; Madrid, Hugo Leal; Ricardo Chaves (Maciel 41), Joao Pinto, Wender; Ze Carlos (Marcel 78)

Chievo: Squizzi; Malago, Mandelli, Mantovani, Marchese; Semioli, Sammarco (Brighi 59), Zanchetta, Kosowski; Godeas (Tiribocchi 78), Bruno

Ref: Verbist (Bel)

Sent-off: Marchese 87 (C), Mantovani 91 (C

http://www.channel4.com/sport/footba...s/spo-chi.html