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