European Leagues 
/ Richard Aikman / 07 April 2011 / Leave a Comment Can Braga stop the Europa League's top scoring team?
"The Arsenalistas will attempt to park the bus in the Ukraine and snatch a return victory... "
Richard Aikman believes that Braga are this year's Europa League surprise package. But can they get past Kiev on Thursday?
Dinamo Kiev [1.61] have an impressive home record in Europe but Braga [7.0] can continue where they left off against Liverpool by holding the hosts to a draw [4.1] on Thursday.
There is always one surprise side that crops up in each European competition every year and this season Braga could be the Europa League's FC Schalke. After being pummelled 6-0 by Arsenal on matchday one they were expected to be summarily dismissed as Champions League cannon-fodder, but lessons were quickly learned and the Portuguese outfit, currently third in La Liga, were unlucky not to stay in that competition after three successive victories, including a 2-0 defeat of the Gunners.
Narrow aggregate wins against Lech Poznan (2-1) and Liverpool (1-0) have since shown that Domingos Pacienca's side are a tough nut to crack, although scoring on the road is not their forte - they have mustered just one away goal in Europe this term (at FK Partizan). The Arsenalistas will therefore attempt to park the bus in the Ukraine and snatch a return victory, which suggests that, if the visitors are successful, a low-scoring affair is in store.
That game-plan will, however, require denying the highest-scoring team in the competition. Dinamo are also unbeaten in seven European home games and have not lost at home in this competition since November 1992. Yuri Semin's side socked eight past Besiktas in February and beat Manchester City 2-1 on aggregate in the last round, but they will be without the injured Milos Ninkovic, and although the midfielder is not as important to Semin as Artem Milevskiy, who has scored five Europa League goals or Oleh Gusev (four), he will be missed.
The hosts lie 12 points behind Shakhtar Donetsk in the Ukrainian top-flight, lost 1-0 to Dnipro Donetsk recently and can be frustrated by obdurate Braga
Recommended Bets
Back the draw @ [4.1]
Back under 1.5 goals @ [3.25]
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