Superb win for Braga, who have humiliated Portsmouth with a 3-0 victory. Luis Aguiar, Rentería and Alan were the three scorers and the English side paid for their arrogance before the kick-off, when coach Harry Redknapp said he didn't know much about Braga. Well, now they know. This was an absolutely deserved win for Braga. The Portuguese side were prepared for Portsmouth's aerial game to explore Peter Crouch's heading and coach Jorge Jesus built a suitable strategy.

Jorge Jesus was aware Portsmouth's biggest threat was Peter Crouch and the team's consequent aerial prowess. This way, he didn't bet on João Pereira and decided to bet on Frechaut for the right-back position, providing a little bit more muscle and height. That seemed to be a good decision because Frechaut, such as all the other four-back elements, did a fine job. Moisés is becoming a key centre-back on this team and his performance tonight was just great. He had more troubles to handle with Crouch's height but, apart from that, his work was wonderful. Vandinho was tireless on midfield and you can see his form is increasing and he's recovering his good old form. Luis Aguiar's direct free-kick goal gave Braga an early lead and then they conceded ball possession to Portsmouth. Jesus's purpose was to explore his players' pace on the offensive stage, like Matheus on the left and especially Alan on the right, who was the MOM. Braga's second goal happened just after the interval by Rentería, who was looking so much to score his first goal with the Braga jersey. This time Meyong didn't sign the scoresheet but that doesn't matter when you can beat Portsmouth 3-0, does it? The third goal was scored by the influential Alan, following a shot on post by Paulo César, who had entered the pitch on the 86th to use his pacey style. Still a good mention to attacking midfielder Luis Aguiar. His playmaking was very good tonight but his direct free-kick was even better.

Portsmouth had underestimated Braga and they paid a tough price for it. It's true coach Harry Redknapp couldn't count on some important players, like midfielder Lassana Diarra, for example. However, the difference of budgets would mean a completely different responsibility on this game's approach. Redknapp said he didn't study Braga's team and here's the result of that lack of professionalism. Like Braga coach Jorge Jesus predicted, Portsmouth's main strategy was using direct aerial game to Peter Crouch. Besides Crouch, Distin, Traoré and Defoe were probably the best players on the visitors. Pamarot, Hreidarsson (then Belhadj) and Campbell, who was beaten on Rentería's goal, were the worst. Portsmouth missed the absence of Lassana Diarra, as the French is a very versatile midfielder, who can defend and attack with a good intensity.

This was a really outstanding result for Braga but now they will have a much more difficult game on the second matchday, as they will travel to San Siro to face Milan on the 6th November. Coach Jorge Jesus said Braga can be the surprise of this Group E (that also features Wolfsburg and Heerenveen besides Milan and Portsmouth) but first let's see what's the team behaviour at San Siro. One thing you can be sure: coach Jorge Jesus will study every detail on the Milan side. Regarding Portsmouth, they will be exempted for the 2nd matchday and maybe that's good to recover some injured players and maybe some respect: Braga's keeper Eduardo asked David James to swap shirts and the latter rejected...