Real Betis fought back valiantly in Thursday’s Europa League clash after Florian Grillitsch had opened the scoring with a sensational long-range strike. The Spanish side eventually secured a hard-fought victory, but the night will also be remembered for t
The first leg of the Europa League quarter-final between SC Braga and Real Betis ended in a 1-1 draw on Wednesday. The Portuguese hosts began brightly and took the lead after just five minutes when Diego Rodrigues delivered a low, driven corner towards the near post. Former Ajax playmaker Florian Grillitsch, lurking at the edge of the six-yard box, timed his run perfectly and flickered a superb backheel that left goalkeeper Pau López rooted to the spot. Real Betis, showing the patience and ball-progression that has become their hallmark under Manuel Pellegrini, gradually worked their way back into the contest. Their equaliser arrived from the penalty spot just after the hour mark. Cucho Hernández, stepping up after Aissa Mandi was judged to have fouled him, sent the goalkeeper the wrong way to make it 1-1. The result sets up an intriguing second leg in Seville next Thursday.
Braga began brightly and opened the scoring after just five minutes. Diego Rodrigues delivered a low near-post corner, and Grillitsch ghosted in to beat goalkeeper Pau López with a delightful backheel: 1-0.
Betis looked set to respond almost immediately when a free-kick was poorly cleared and Marc Bartra pounced on the rebound, but the assistant referee correctly raised his flag for offside.
The visitors then dominated, and from another set piece Bartra rose again, this time sending a powerful header against the outside of the post.
Braga survived wave after wave, with goalkeeper Lukáš Horníček producing sharp stops to deny Abde Ezzalzouli and Cucho Hernández.
Just before the hour mark, the visitors finally got their reward. Abde was brought down inside the box by midfielder Gorby, who was shown a yellow card, and Hernández fired the resulting penalty into the top corner to make it 1–1.
Abde made no attempt to hide his frustration: he wanted to take the penalty himself and remained stone-faced when Hernández was entrusted with the spot-kick instead. Betis, who introduced Antony at the start of the second half, never truly capitalised on their numerical superiority yet rarely looked vulnerable to the hosts’ sporadic forays forward.
In the closing stages, Antony became involved in a minor altercation with Braga substitute Demir Tiknaz; the referee quickly restored order, but the home crowd seized the chance to jeer the Brazilian every time he touched the ball. Deep into injury time, Antony almost stole the win, curling a shot a few centimetres wide of the far post and denying Betis a dramatic late victory.
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