On Thursday evening, Celtic Park will host its first Europa League match of the season.
Braga are the visitors in Glasgow with Celtic looking to secure their first win of the campaign after a draw against Red Star Belgrade in Serbia.
This will only be the third time Celtic and Braga have met each other competitively, the first two coming in the summer of 2010 in a Champions League qualifier.
The Bhoys lost that tie 4-2 on aggregate, but did win the second leg at Parkhead 2-1 thanks to goals from Gary Hooper and Efrain Juarez.
So what does Celtic’s full record against Portuguese sides look like? What does history tell us ahead of facing Braga this week? 67 Hail Hail delivers all the stats below.
Benfica
| Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | W% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 8 | 9 | -1 | 37.50 |
Out of all the Portuguese teams listed here, Benfica are the side Celtic have faced the most across their history.
The first meeting was a 3-0 win at Celtic Park in 1969 under Jock Stein, and the most recent was a defeat in the Champions League in November 2012.
Boavista
| Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | W% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 2 | +3 | 50.00 |
Boavista are not the team they once were, that’s for sure. They have a rich European history and regularly qualified in the 1990s and early 2000s.
But believe it or not, their last game in a UEFA competition came against Celtic in the semi-final of the UEFA Cup in 2003, which the Bhoys won over two legs with a 2-1 aggregate score.
Braga
| Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | W% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 | -2 | 50.00 |
Braga are Thursday’s opponents and as mentioned above, Celtic have only faced them twice before.
Neil Lennon failed to navigate past them in the Champions League third qualifying round and it meant Celtic dropped into the Europa League play-offs.
Leixoes
| Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | W% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 1 | +3 | 50.00 |
Leixoes were the first ever Portuguese side to face Celtic in European competition, with the two-legged affair coming in the 1964/65 edition of the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
The teams met in the first round and Jimmy McGrory’s men advanced to the next stage with a 4-1 aggregate victory.
Porto
| Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | W% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 6 | -3 | 33.33 |
Of course, the most infamous match against Porto was the agonising defeat to them in the UEFA Cup final in 2003. Jose Mourinho’s side won 3-2 after extra-time despite Henrik Larsson’s brace.
Sporting CP
| Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | W% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 4 | +2 | 50.00 |
All four matches against Sporting CP came in the UEFA Cup in the 1980s and 1990s. Celtic thumped them 5-2 in 1983 but lost 2-1 on aggregate a decade later.
Vitória S.C.
| Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | W% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 100.00 |
After failing to qualify for the 1998/99 Champions League, Celtic dropped down into the UEFA Cup and faced Vitoria in the opening round.
The Bhoys won both legs 2-1 for a 4-2 aggregate scoreline.
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