Braga established a valuable first leg lead in Switzerland versus Sion when the pair clashed in the Europa League second round last week and they can ease into the last 16 by following up on home soil.
The Portuguese side continued their excellent run of form by edging their hosts 2-1 just six days ago and that result extended Braga’s unbeaten sequence to ten matches in all competitions.
They won’t be challenging the big three in Portugal for domestic honours this time around but Braga qualified for the latter stages of this competition on the back of a trio of home wins over Groningen, Marseille and Slovan Liberec and are a cut above Wednesday’s opponents too.
Narrow defeats to Benfica and Sporting, the current top two in the Primeira Liga, are the only losses Braga have suffered anywhere in their last 19 matches and their record at the hostile Estadio AXA is particularly good.
Braga are averaging nearly three goals per match in front of their own fans this term and they shared six goals with Vitoria Guimaraes on the weekend.
While Paulo Fonseca will have been disappointed his side dropped points, his counterpart on Wednesday, Didier Tholot, will have been dismayed at his team’s latest implosion and Braga should be overwhelming favourites for the second leg.
Sion’s 3-0 defeat to Grasshoppers was their ninth in just 20 top flight matches this season and they currently sit just six points above bottom side Vaduz.
In addition Sion have triumphed just once on their travels in the Europa League over the last decade, the 1-0 triumph at Bordeaux in October helped the Swiss club reach this stage of the competition, and I need no encouragement to take them on at the prices.
Winners of only three of their previous 15 domestic away matches, Sion are really up against it and I am surprised Braga are any bigger than 1/2 to gain a win that would see them be the first side to book their place in the next round.
4pts Back Braga (vs. Sion) @ 4/6 (various)