Braga produced a comeback for the ages as they responded to conceding two early goals to beat Real Betis 4-2 in the quarterfinal second-leg and 5-3 on aggregate to reach their first Europa League semi-final in 15 years.
Braga will face Freiburg in the semi-finals. The first leg takes place in Portugal on April 30, with the return match in Germany on May 7.
Betis started brightest and Cucho Hernandez curled narrowly wide but Braga didn’t heed the warning.
Just seconds later, Betis had their opener as Abde Ezzalzouli lifted a cross to the waiting Antony, who steered in a delicate, cushioned header off the far post, reports UEFA.
It wasn’t long before they had a second as well.
This time Pablo Fornals was the architect, playing a smart one-two with Antony before crossing for Ezzalzouli to tap in.
Just when it seemed like Betis might pull away for good, Braga hit back with their first shot on target, Pau Victor taking advantage of a defensive mix-up to score – and it was a clear turning point in the game.
Braga built on that goal by levelling soon after the restart as Vitor Carvalho headed in Ricardo Horta’s free kick, but even better was to come for the visitors.
Four minutes later, Ricardo Horta put them ahead with a penalty after Demir Ege Tıknaz was brought down by Sofyan Amrabat.
Real Betis were stunned and there was time for one more from the away side.
Perhaps their best of the night, a soaring volley from Jean-Baptiste Gorby with 16 minutes put gloss on a remarkable victory which few saw coming with half an hour gone.
Gibbs-White sends Forest into Europa League SF
Morgan Gibbs-White’s deflected first-half effort proved enough for Nottingham Forest to reach their first European semi-final since 1984 following a tense quarterfinal second leg against ten-man Porto.
Porto had started brightly in the opening leg seven days earlier and carved out the first chance of the return with barely a minute gone, Forest goalkeeper Stefan Ortega racing off his line to thwart Terem Moffi.
Any Porto momentum disappeared shortly afterwards when centre-back Jan Bednarek was dismissed for a challenge on Chris Wood, and the hosts took control of proceedings from there, captain Morgan Gibbs-White putting the Reds in front in the tie for the first time with a deflected strike that spun past the wrong-footed Diogo Costa.
Forest had a spell of pressure leading up to half-time, Omari Hutchinson and Murillo rustling the sidenetting and Nicolás Domínguez sending a glancing header fractionally wide.
The Dragons, revitalised by a quadruple change at the interval, came within centimetres of levelling ahead of the hour, William Gomes’ powerful volley from a Seko Fofana delivery cannoning back off the underside of the bar.
The Premier League team took time to find the fluency of their first-half play, though only a smart Diogo Costa stop prevented sub Igor Jesus from finding the far corner.
However, it was Porto who went closest to getting the second goal of the evening late on as sub Alan Varela’s dipping strike smacked the frame of Stefan Ortega’s goal.
One of the best nights I’ve had at the City Ground, thanks to the fans and everyone that’s made it happen. We said early on that we’d take this competition full-on and we deservedly got the win,” Gibbs-White said.
