The 2019/20 UEFA Europa League group stages begin on Thursday 19th September. There are some huge teams in the competition from the off this season and some excellent games to look forward to over the next few months.
One of the most interesting groups is Group K and this group includes Wolverhampton Wanderers of England and Braga of Portugal. The teams meet at Molineux in the first round of matches.
It has been a long road to the Europa League group stages for Wolves and they will be hoping to make the most of the opportunity. The European season started at the end of July for Wolves as they entered the second qualifying round of the competition. The Premier League outfit had little trouble seeing off Crusaders over two legs and moved into the third qualifying round to play Pyunik.
Again, this was an easy tie for Wolves and they won both legs, coming through 8-0 on aggregate. Into the playoffs and Wolves faced a tougher ask against Torino of Serie A. Wolves won the first leg 3-2 away from home and completed the job on home soil, defeating the Italians 2-1.
However, their European exploits appear to have taken their toll on Wolves’ Premier League form. They have failed to win any of their Premier League matches this season and lost heavily at home to Chelsea on the weekend. With two straight defeats in the Premier League, it will be interesting to see how Wolves perform in this match.
Braga entered Europa League qualifying at the third round and defeated Brondby 7-2 on aggregate. The Portuguese won both legs of the tie, the first 4-2 away from home and then 3-1 on home soil.
The playoffs handed Braga a tie with Spartak Moscow of Russia and this proved more difficult. However, Braga won the home leg 1-0 and completed the job in the Russian capital, winning the away leg 2-1.
Despite making progress in the Europa League, Braga have not enjoyed a good start to their domestic campaign in Portugal. They have played five league matches, winning one, drawing one and losing three. Trends show Braga have lost each of their last two Primeira Liga games and sit in 16th place on 4 points.
Team news and Wolves do not have injury or suspension concerns ahead of this game. It will be interesting to see how many changes Nuno Espírito Santo makes from the team which lost 5-2 to Chelsea on Saturday.
Braga have doubts over two players with Araujo Ferreira Ricardo and Raúl Michel Melo da Silva both aiming to recover from knee injuries.
.@EuropaLeague football returns to Molineux this week!😍🇪🇺 pic.twitter.com/nuSZQWASkJ— Wolves (@Wolves) September 15, 2019
.@EuropaLeague football returns to Molineux this week!😍🇪🇺 pic.twitter.com/nuSZQWASkJ
Wolves have made a poor start to the Premier League this season but they appear to have the Europa League under control. The hosts have the superior quality and should come out on top, although we could see under 2.5 goals.