Go Ahead Eagles 0-0 Braga: mission accomplished | OneFootball

Spanish coach Carlos Vicens has built a strong team at Braga. (Photo: Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

It was a soporific game that will not live long in the memory but Braga will not care about that as they ended their Europa League campaign with a 0-0 draw in the Netherlands against Go Ahead Eagles to finish in 6th place in the standings to qualify directly for the round of sixteen.

Five wins, two draws and just a single defeat in eight games is a highly positive showing by Carlos Vicens’ men, who will feel they can make further progress in the knockout stages.

The standout results in Europe this season include home wins over Feyenoord and Nottingham Forest and victory at Celtic Park in Glasgow.

Benefiting from a well-balanced squad, including the likes of experienced campaigners João Moutinho and Ricardo Horta, players at the top of their game such as Rodrigo Zalazar and Victor Gómez, and a smattering of extremely promising youngsters such as goalkeeper Lukas Hornicek, midfielder Mario Dorgeles and striker Pau Victor, the Warriors have been especially impressive in the biggest matches this season, both internationally and domestically.

Braga got to the final of the Europa League in 2011, losing an all-Portuguese final against FC Porto in Dublin. With the Dragons also into the last 16 and the two clubs on different sides of the draw, what price a repeat of that final in Istanbul in May!?