BRAGA, May 1 — Braga will take a slender advantage to Germany for the return leg of their Europa League semi-final after Mario Dorgeles scored in injury-time to give the hosts a 2-1 win over Freiburg in the first leg yesterday. 

Demir Ege Tiknaz opened the scoring early for the hosts, before Vincenzo Grifo quickly levelled for Freiburg.

Despite being forced into numerous changes due to injuries, Carlos Vicens’ Braga made a roaring start in their first European semi-final for 15 years.

Turkey midfielder Tiknaz slid in to finish from close range on eight minutes at their Estadio Municipal.

The lead only lasted eight minutes as Freiburg playmaker Grifo applied a cool finish to Jan-Niklas Beste’s pinpoint cross.

After a frantic opening quarter-hour, the match calmed down until one minute before the interval as VAR intervened to award a penalty to Braga after Philipp Lienhart fouled Gustaf Lagerbielke.

However, German shotstopper Noah Atubolu plunged to his right to tip Rodrigo Zalazar’s effort from 12 yards to safety.

Braga boss Vicens made attacking changes in the second period.

The breakthrough came for Braga two minutes into added time as Atubolu spilled Vitor Carvalho’s effort and Dorgeles was on hand to squeeze the ball home from close range.

“Even after we conceded, the team prevailed. We missed a penalty and still managed to win,” Vicens said.

“The team never stopped wanting to win... And we got the reward in the form of a 2-1 victory.

“In Germany, Freiburg will try to turn it around and we will have to be ready to give a good performance again.”

The winners of the tie will meet either Nottingham Forest or Aston Villa in the final on May 20 in Istanbul. Forest won the first leg of the clash between the two Premier League rivals 1-0. — AFP

BARCELONA, April 27 — Sevilla moved closer to relegation from La Liga by losing 2-1 at Osasuna on Sunday, while Elche picked up three vital points with a 2-1 win at Real Oviedo.

Villarreal continued their strong season with a 2-1 victory over Celta Vigo to tighten their grip on third place.

Luis Garcia Plaza’s Sevilla took the lead through Neal Maupay in the 69th minute but Raul Garcia pulled the hosts level and Alejandro Catena struck in stoppage time to deal a blow to the Andalucians’ survival hopes.

The seven-time Europa League winners are 18th, a point behind Mallorca in 17th, after the islanders lost at Alaves on Saturday.

“I have a knot in my throat,” said Sevilla defender Gabriel Suazo.

“We have to keep moving forward, we have to keep fighting, there are five finals left, and whoever gets to play – if it’s me – I’m going to put my life on the line for this club.”

Elche moved up to 13th with their victory, three points above the drop zone, but are still looking nervously over their shoulders.

Only six points separate Athletic Bilbao, 10th, from Sevilla, with the remaining five rounds of fixtures offering plenty of intrigue as to who will ultimately drop out of the top flight.

The only side cut badly adrift are Oviedo, who are seven points from safety with only 15 left to play for.

At the other end of the table high-flying Villarreal defeated Celta to move five points clear of fourth-place Atletico Madrid.

Gerard Moreno’s early penalty sent the Yellow Submarine ahead and Nicolas Pepe doubled their lead to give them a comfortable advantage at half-time.

Celta, seventh, still have hope of qualifying for European football next season and pulled one back through a Borja Iglesias spot-kick, retaken after encroachment when his first effort was saved.

Ferran Jutgla hit the post for the Galicians but they could not find an equaliser, suffering a fifth consecutive defeat across all competitions.

Earlier Alemao struck deep in stoppage time to secure Rayo Vallecano a thrilling 3-3 draw against Copa del Rey winners Real Sociedad.

On Saturday leaders Barcelona took a big step towards defending their La Liga title with a 2-0 win at Getafe that allowed them to open up a 11-point lead on rivals Real Madrid. — AFP