[Archive 2007-11-29] 2007: 08 UEFA Cup: Sporting Braga vs. Bayern Munich

Historical archive — originally published 2007-11-29. This report records what was known on that date. It is not current news; subsequent events may have changed the situation. Wikinews closed in May 2026.

Sporting Braga of Portugal held Bayern Munich to a 1-1 draw today. The draw along with Bolton's draw with Aris keeps Bayern at the top of Group F.

Uli Hoeneß: “As we’ve already seen against Belenenses, you have to be prepared for an unbelievably hard physical encounter when you come to Portugal. We were the victims of a few bad fouls, but the referee let a little bit too much go for my taste. It’s important we go on and win the group, because our first match would be away to one of the third-placed teams, and that’s a huge advantage. But we still hold all the trump cards. If we beat Aris Salonika at home, we definitely finish top.“

Ottmar Hitzfeld: “We came here to win today, and we went out and controlled the play accordingly. Braga had a couple of decent chances before half-time, but otherwise we had much more possession. I felt we lacked the absolute will to win, however. We should have tackled more aggressively in the first half, and we never found a way through up front. We were in the driving seat at 1-0 up, then Demichelis slipped and we conceded the equaliser. We can’t be entirely satisfied, because we came here intending to win.“

Mark van Bommel: “You can’t be happy with the draw after taking the lead here. We were totally in control and scored straight after half-time. In normal circumstances we’d have gone on and taken the points, but Braga aren’t a bad side. People think we’ll win all our matches, but it’s just not as simple as that.“

Roland Linz (Braga goalscorer): “Scoring against Bayern is always special. The draw was very, very important for us. It was pretty evenly-matched over the 90 minutes, although we had one or two very good chances. I reckon the draw was the right result. It rates as a success for us, but it was definitely less than Bayern were hoping for.“

Source and licence

Text adapted from 2007/08 UEFA Cup: Sporting Braga vs. Bayern Munich by Wikinews contributors under CC BY 2.5. Paragraphs have been selected and abridged, and formatting adjusted. Contributor history.