Sporting Braga vs. Rangers Predictions: Tavernier to pick up a card in Portugal

Rangers travel to Portugal to take on Braga in the Europa League on Thursday and @AnthonyEadson is on hand to provide us with his best bets for the game that can be seen live on BT Sport kicking off at 8pm. 

The Gers defeated Red Star Belgrade 4-2 on aggregate in the round of 16 after earning themselves a three goal lead after the first leg. They met Braga in the Europa League back in 2020 with Ryan Kent scoring in the latest meeting in a 1-0 win. 

Giovanni van Bronckhorst will be without forward Alfredo Morelos who picked up a thigh injury while on International duty. Kemar Roofe should keep his place in attack for the visitors, while Glen Kamara may come in to replace John Lundstram.

Braga are the bookmakers favourites to get the win in this first leg tie, being offered at around 13/10 with most firms. The draw can be backed at 9/4, while Paddy Power go 21/10 on Rangers taking a lead back to Scotland.

The first selection I’ve opted for on Thursday evening is for there to be over 2.5 goals in the match. Despite European first leg knockout ties often yielding low scoring cagey affairs, I’m fancying plenty of chances and as a result, goals in Portugal. 

The home side come into this game off the back of a fantastic result on Friday evening, beating Benfica 3-2 to maintain fourth place in Liga Noz. That means Braga will have had two extra days to prepare for this match than Rangers who lost to Celtic at Ibrox on Sunday with the league title now looking likely to go to their city rivals.

Braga are unbeaten at home in the Europa League this season and will be keen to take an advantage into the second leg in Scotland. The Portuguese outfit knocked out Monaco 3-1 in the last round and should be full of confidence after their win against Benfica six days ago.

Both of Braga’s last two matches have seen over 2.5 goals and the data looks even better for the visitors with at least three goals being scored in all of Rangers last five matches. In Europe this season, Rangers have seen their last four include over 2.5 goals, and as they proved with their 4-2 win at Dortmund earlier in the campaign, we should not write-off van Bronkhorst’s men. Odds-against looks generous here with bet365. 

I’ve also decided to take a punt on James Tavernier being carded in this Europa League match, which is available at 4/1 with several firms including Paddy Power. It’s crucial for Rangers that they stay in this two-legged tie and give themselves something to play for when Braga travel to Ibrox a week on Thursday.

No player has been shown more yellow cards for Rangers in the league this season than right-back Tavernier with nine in just 30 appearances in 2021/2022. With this in mind I’m surprised to see Paddy Power have no Rangers player priced bigger than the 4/1 that is available on Tavernier being carded.

Furthermore we have one of the better referee’s for cards in official Davide Massa. The Italian has dished out a whopping 19 cards across his last two domestic matches and averages a healthy 4.67 yellows per game in Serie A this season.

Best of luck to anyone following the selections. Please gamble responsibly.