Braga 1-1 Real Betis: Hernandez penalty salvages first-leg draw

Florian Grillitsch’s sublime backheel was cancelled out by a Cucho Hernandez penalty as Braga and Real Betis drew 1-1 in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final tie.

Betis were slow out of the traps at the Estadio Municipal de Braga, but they soon gained a foothold in the game and deserved to leave Portugal with the tie still level, ahead of hosting the second leg in eight days’ time.

Braga had already gone close via the outside of Ricardo Horta’s boot by the time they took the lead in the fifth minute, with Grillitsch diverting Diego Rodrigues’ corner home with an inventive flick at the near post.

Marc Bartra had the ball in the net at the other end only two minutes later, only to be denied due to an offside in the build-up, and the Betis captain also nodded against the post midway through the first half.

There were further chances for both teams before half-time, with Lukas Hornicek keeping out Hernandez’s downward header and Pau Victor miscuing on the volley following a delicate, scooped pass from Victor Gomez.

A moment of madness from Jean-Baptiste Gorby resulted in Braga giving up their lead just after the hour mark, as he blatantly scythed down Abde Ezzalzouli inside the area and Hernandez smashed the resulting spot-kick into the top-left corner.

Both sides appeared unwilling to take too many risks late on, but Betis went closest to a winner when Antony curled just past the top-left corner in stoppage time.

Data Debrief: Braga’s rock-solid defence breached

Braga came into this game with a defensive record as rock-solid as the famous quarry face that sits behind one of the goals at the Estadio Municipal.

Another clean sheet would have seen Hornicek (currently seven) tie the all-time record for the most shutouts by any goalkeeper in a single Europa League campaign (since 2009-10), alongside Volkan Demirel (Fenerbahce, 2012-13) and Sergio Romero (Manchester United, 2016-17), but Gorby’s rash challenge cost him that opportunity.

Hernandez’s penalty also meant Betis avoided losing the first leg of a fourth straight Europa League knockout tie, putting them in a decent position ahead of the home leg.

The final result fairly reflected the expected goals (xG) battle, as there was little to separate the teams on that front, with Braga putting up 1.39 xG to Betis’ 1.54.