Marked for Florian Grillitsch
From our football correspondent
Steady
Match12 Apr 2027
Braga are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 64 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Tempers go at Braga
João Moutinho was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Words at Braga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sikou Niakaté is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad12 Apr 2027
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
Squad12 Apr 2027
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Braga, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Market12 Apr 2027
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. João Carvalho may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad22 Mar 2027
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Match20 Mar 2027
8 unbeaten for Braga
Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 8 matches without defeat is a foundation Braga did not have in the autumn.
Squad22 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Braga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad22 Mar 2027
Sikou Niakaté falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
7.71, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Braga had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.
Match20 Mar 2027
Braga and Porto take a point apiece
It finished 2‑2, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
Squad22 Mar 2027
A player who expected to start watched it instead. The manager will call it a decision for the team; Amine El Ouazzani will call it something else in private.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings22 Mar 2027
Marked 4.51. Nothing he attempted worked and by the hour mark he had stopped attempting much, which is the part a manager notices rather than the mistakes.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad8 Mar 2027
20 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Lukáš Horníček has given nobody the chance.
Market8 Mar 2027
Víctor Gómez wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Braga hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad8 Mar 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Braga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match6 Mar 2027
Whatever happens, Braga do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
The terraces8 Mar 2027
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
Match6 Mar 2027
A 2‑0 win over Moreirense, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Defensive actions: 20. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad8 Mar 2027
Words at Braga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Bright Arrey-Mbi is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings8 Mar 2027
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad1 Mar 2027
There were 11 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market1 Mar 2027
The bid was some way short and Braga did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Age has not caught João Moutinho yet — 7.95
At 40 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.95 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad1 Mar 2027
19 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Tempers go at Braga
João Moutinho was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Match27 Feb 2027
Braga get the job done against Alverca
A 1‑0 win over Alverca, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
Squad1 Mar 2027
Bright Arrey-Mbi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings1 Mar 2027
Gustaf Lagerbielke was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.38. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match15 Feb 2027
Braga are in among the leaders
Position 2 and 53 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad15 Feb 2027
17 clean sheets and counting. Strikers leave this ground muttering his name, which is exactly how a goalkeeper measures a good season.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Braga
João Moutinho was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Bright Arrey-Mbi falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
16 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Defensive actions: 13. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market1 Feb 2027
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Tempers go at Braga
João Moutinho was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad1 Feb 2027
15 shut-outs and counting. Goalkeepers are only noticed when they fail, and Lukáš Horníček has given nobody the chance.
Loan watch1 Feb 2027
“I did not go to Nacional to sit and watch. I want to come back to Braga and fight for my place.” 0 appearances in 25 matches say the rest.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Words at Braga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Sikou Niakaté is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad1 Feb 2027
No place for Sikou Niakaté on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at Braga pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Market1 Feb 2027
Everyone has stopped pretending: Gil Vicente will make the call about Alaa Bellaarouch this week. Braga have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Match30 Jan 2027
Braga and AVS cancel each other out
Nil-nil, and few chances worth the name. AVS came to defend and left with exactly what they came for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
A defender on the scoresheet, which happens rarely enough that everybody in the ground remembers who took the corner. 1 for him, and a mark of 7.45 for the rest of it.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Braga
Ricardo Horta was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match28 Nov 2026
Braga are at home on the road
4 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
Match28 Nov 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Ricardo Horta. 2‑1 against Gil Vicente, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Ninety minutes of Ricardo Horta at his very best
Marked 8.18. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Braga.
Loan watch30 Nov 2026
“I did not go to Nacional to sit and watch. I want to come back to Braga and fight for my place.” 3 appearances in 13 matches say the rest.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Chuchu Ramírez dropped after a run of poor form
The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Clubs make promises constantly and the page usually only hears about them when they are broken. This one was honoured, and the dressing room noticed that faster than any supporter did.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings16 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 33. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Tempers go at Braga
Ricardo Horta was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match14 Nov 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Sikou Niakaté falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
“I watch every Braga game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Moreirense runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Squad16 Nov 2026
Fran Navarro is still paying for one afternoon at Braga
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market9 Nov 2026
Víctor Gómez wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Braga hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad9 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Braga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Match7 Nov 2026
Three points for Braga, 1‑0 the final word against Moreirense in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Jonas Wind gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 17. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A mark of 7.96, and nobody in the ground would argue with it. He was involved in everything that mattered and most of what did not.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I watch every Braga game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Nacional runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
Defensive actions: 16. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Squad9 Nov 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 40. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match28 Oct 2026
The cup run ends for Braga
0‑1 against Torreense, and the road stops here. Cup exits are quick deaths — no second leg, no next week, just the league from now until May.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 7 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Market2 Nov 2026
Ricardo Horta wants to know where this is going
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Braga hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Squad2 Nov 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Braga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Words at Braga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Ricardo Horta is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Match31 Oct 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mario Dorgeles. 2‑0 against Alverca, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
20 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.30 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match3 Oct 2026
Braga win it in stoppage time
The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 91th minute. AVS will replay every second of the added time for a week.
Squad5 Oct 2026
A fracture rules Yanis da Rocha out for 34 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Braga will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
João Moutinho, 40, rolls back the years — 7.93
There is an age at which every good afternoon gets described as a throwback, which is unfair and also accurate. 7.93 at 40, and nobody on the pitch was better.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 25. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Tempers go at Braga
Ricardo Horta was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Loan watch5 Oct 2026
“I watch every Braga game from here. That says everything about where my head is.” The loan at Nacional runs its course, but his heart never made the trip.
Match3 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Gustaf Lagerbielke’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Braga.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Florian Grillitsch falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.31 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad14 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Yanis da Rocha out for 55 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Braga will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Age has not caught João Moutinho yet — 7.87
At 40 he is supposed to be managing his minutes. Instead he was marked 7.87 and looked, for ninety minutes, exactly like the player everybody remembers.
Squad14 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Braga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Nobody could get near Pau Víctor
Successful dribbles: 21. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Mario Dorgeles has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 20, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Match12 Sep 2026
It finished 1‑0, and it was Mario Dorgeles’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to Braga.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Words at Braga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florian Grillitsch is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Squad14 Sep 2026
9 new faces, and Braga are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad7 Sep 2026
A fracture rules Yanis da Rocha out for 64 days
Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Braga will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.
Squad7 Sep 2026
There were 7 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Tempers go at Braga
Ricardo Horta was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
22 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Florian Grillitsch falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Defensive actions: 17. He was first to everything and second to nothing, and the goalkeeper had an easy day because of it.
Market7 Sep 2026
Everyone has stopped pretending: Felgueiras will make the call about Demir Ege Tıknaz this week. Braga have a number in mind, and the number is not shy.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
14 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 13. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match22 Aug 2026
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 4‑0 against Nacional, and it could have been more.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 81 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market24 Aug 2026
Porto come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Braga did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market24 Aug 2026
The fee is $3.9M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Nacional drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Market24 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Braga have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Tempers go at Braga
Ricardo Horta was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Market24 Aug 2026
Nacional pay $680.0K, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad24 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of Lukáš Horníček
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Florian Grillitsch falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Squad17 Aug 2026
Brutal, unambiguous and, for all the horror of the moment, usually less career-shaped than the ligament everybody fears more. 90 days, a clean timeline, and a return date somebody can actually plan around.
Market17 Aug 2026
Reading come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Braga did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Squad17 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Braga this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Graduation day at Braga
4 boys move up, and somewhere in the building the people who coached them at twelve are quietly having the best morning of their working year. Nothing about this shows up in a result and it is why the academy exists.
Market17 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Eduardo Cardoso is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market17 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Gustavo Dias has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market17 Aug 2026
The academy exists for exactly this morning. Bernardo Martins has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.
Match15 Aug 2026
Three points for Braga, 1‑0 the final word against Santa Clara in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Words at Braga training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Florian Grillitsch is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.