THE The Braga team, the only Portuguese representative in the competition, beat Belgian Gent (2-0) in the previous round, in the debut of coach Franclim Carvalho, who replaced Spaniard Carlos Vicens.
Previously, in the first game of the league phase, still with the Spanish coach in charge, Sporting de Braga also traveled to Denmark, having been defeated by Copenhagen (3-0), now returning to the country to face the current Danish champion.
Aarhus has not yet won in the Conference League, registering a draw and a defeat, and was relegated to the third UEFA competition after losing this season to Benfica in the play-off to access the league stage of the Europa League, with a double 3-1.
This will be the fourth time that Sporting de Braga visits a Danish team and, in addition to the defeat against Copenhagen, they also lost to Midtjylland (3-2) in the group stage of the Europa League in the 2021/22 season.
The only victory was against Brondby (4-2), in the third qualifying round for access to the Europa League, in the 2019/20 season.
The ‘arsenalistas’ arrive at this game after a triumph against Famalicão (3-0), in the 10th round of the I League, after having ‘fallen’ in the quarter-finals of the League Cup against Famalicão, in a penalty shoot-out.
The game between Aarhus and Sporting de Braga is scheduled for Thursday at 18:45 local time (17:45 in Lisbon) at the Randers Stadium.
Also on this journey, the Cypriots from Pafos, coached by the Portuguese Ricardo Sá Pinto, will visit the Dutch from Twente, still looking for their first triumph.
The Romanians from Filipe Coelho’s Universitatea Craiova, who have four points and have not yet lost, host the Albanians from Egnatia.
With eight teams with a total of six points, the third round will pit two teams that are in the leading group, with the Belgians from Sint-Truiden hosting the Norwegians from Brann.
In a league phase with six games, the top eight will qualify directly for the round of 16, while the teams classified between ninth and 24th place will compete in a play-off to access the next phase. The remaining teams, from 25th onwards, are eliminated from European competitions.
