Porto will go into the game as favourites, having recently finished the league season in first place and unbeaten, with an incredible record of 27 wins and three draws from 30 games. They comfortably secured the title in early April, with five games remaining.
They won both games against Braga in the league, and have also reached the final of Portugal’s biggest cup competition, the Taça de Portugal, which takes place this coming Saturday.
The club has had recent European success, famously winning the UEFA Cup and Champions League in successive years in 2003 and 2004 under Jose Mourinho. Current boss Andre Villas-Boas could become the youngest ever manager to win a UEFA club competition, at just 33 years of age.
In the Europa League, Porto have been in electric form, winning 13 out of their 16 games so far and scoring a whopping 43 goals in the process. They have the competitions top scorer this season, Radamel Falcao, who has scored 17 times, a new tournament record.
Porto have two players who have previously represented the Seleção: goalkeeper Helton and striker Hulk, who has eight goals in the Europa League campaign. They also have exciting Brazilian youngsters Maicon, Walter, Souza and Fernando.
En route to the final, they have overcome some difficult opposition, knocking out Spanish giants Sevilla and Villarreal as well, as well as two of Russia’s famous Moscow clubs, Spartak and CSKA.
Club captain Helton has told his side to treat the final like any other game. “Leading up to the final it’ll be the same,” he told UEFA.com. “We’ll think the same way, work the same way – we don’t have to improve or stop doing something because we’ve reached the final. The objective is always the same.
“All the players have worked for this,” he continued. “We’ve got a squad that fights for the same objectives, as we’re accustomed to saying: ‘We all pull in the same direction.'”
Braga will be the underdogs but their European run will command respect. They ended their league season in fourth place, but last year did fantastically to finish second, ahead of Porto.
That saw them qualify for the Champions League, and they made the group stages after knocking out Sevilla in the play-off round. Despite three wins, including one against Arsenal, they missed out on qualifying for the second round, and dropped into the Europa League.
After scraping past Lech Poznan, the club claimed another English scalp when they knocked out Liverpool thanks to a goal from their talismanic Brazilian Alan. They followed this up with away-goal triumphs over Dynamo Kiev and another Portuguese team, Benfica.
There is a strong Brazilian influence in their squad, with players such as Artur, Paulão, Vandinho and Lima all important figures in their run to the final, and all likely to start in Dublin.
Braga manager Domingos Paciencia has announced this will be his last game in charge of the club, and it would be a fitting send off for them to beat a side he used to play for.
Porto have blown teams away with their attacking strength this season, while Braga have relied largely on being tight at the back. It will be interesting to see which of these styles ultimately prevails, and it is sure to be a fantastic end to this season’s competition.
