View from the South – Portugal to Wales Part 1

It has been quite an eventful week one way and another and the day had finally arrived for Chris and me to set off for Porto for three days in Braga to take in the game. I met Chris at Gatwick on Tuesday morning at about 08.00 and we immediately got outside a fat boy’s breakfast in one of the restaurants before checking in and going through security. Our flight was at 10.10 and fortunately for both of us the weather conditions for the two hour trip were good. Neither of us find flying an enjoyable experience especially landing which I hate most of all but which all pilots will tell you is mandatory unlike taking off which is optional. We had booked our arrangements with Sutton Travel, a Midland firm run by fellow bluenoses and I’d like to thank the boys there for a brilliant trouble free excursion; I would recommend them to anyone. We picked up our arranged hire car on arrival and were soon on our way to Braga from Porto, a distance of about 55 km. It’s been years since I drove a left hand drive car and it took a bit of getting used to but after a while I finally remembered that the gear stick was on the right and that was also the side of the road you were expected to travel on! We parked up in municipal car park in Braga and headed for the town square where a few Blues fans had already found the main bar there. We noticed a tourist information place and got hold of a map. Having located our hotel on it and knowing where our car was, Chris’ navigational skills found us at our hotel where we booked in. The hotel was basic but clean, comfortable and within easy reach of the town square and the refreshment it offered.

We walked around awhile getting our bearings and noted the various places of worship including the Cathedral for which Braga is famous. We had a quiet pint in the square and it was getting into the evening. Draught beer was 2.50 Euros a pint and bottles could be purchased for 0.95 Euro each! We were expecting to pay at least 4-5 Euros for a large beer so it was a pleasant surprise and maybe one of the reasons why Portugal is broke! We set off to find a restaurant to eat and stumbled across a place that served as a starter ‘Mussels in green gravy.’ This summoned up visions of something that had been dragged out of a stagnant pond but nevertheless I was intrigued and I said to Chris that I had to know what it was so I was going to order it. I am so glad I did. When the dish arrived, the mussels still in their shells had been cooked then chilled, garnished with finely chopped onion and peppers with a Vino Verde Lemon Vinaigrette dressing that was simply to die for. Chris looked enviously at these and I insisted he tried one. He regretted the more conservative choice of melon and Parma ham. I called the head waiter over and told him that the restaurant simply could not describe my starter as mussels in green gravy as there wouldn’t be many English takers and it was only due to the fact that I am an intrepid soul that I had chosen them. It struck me that the translation from Portuguese had come out badly on a computer translator found on Google. The waiter asked what they should call the dish to which I replied either ‘Heaven on a plate’ or ‘mussels in lemon and wine vinaigrette.’ The main courses were pork loin with fresh vegetables and baby potatoes for me and monkfish cooked in rice and herbs in a gorgeous fish stew sauce; my food was good but Chris had undoubtedly chosen the best main of the two of us. This was all washed down with a bottle of Vino Verde. We both had a fragrant tart pudding for afters followed by a lovely tawny port (the waiter left the bottle on the table) and coffee. A local brandy was added as a compliment all for the princely sum of 55 Euros for the two of us; that meal would have been £120 for two in London!

Wednesday morning came soon enough and we woke to a bright day. After breakfast we decided to explore the town a bit more and set off in the direction of the famous Cathedral. Braga centre is finite in size in that everywhere can be accessed on foot without it feeling like one of Sir Ian Botham’s charity walks. The pavements are all mosaic constructed which would give the elf n’ safety brigade in this country a field day. There was a concourse from our hotel up to the main square with large flower beds that were being freshly cultivated ready no doubt for next spring. Some of the buildings were beautifully tiled with shuttered windows and ornate balconies. It has always intrigued me that similar properties on the Continent of Europe seem to have one thing in common in that the paintwork is more often than not peeling and looks shabby. Chris owns a little place in France and he tells me that paint is not only expensive but of poor quality and when he renovates he buys the paint in England and takes it across so maybe that’s the answer. We meandered through the stone cobbled streets around the churches clustered around the very centre of the Cathedral and eventually went in. As you would expect it was a place of tranquillity with fine artwork everywhere you looked. Construction began in 1089 and went on until the mid 13th century. The façade has three Gothic arches with Baroque towers above that were added later. There were exquisite sculptures of dozens of the Saints along the walls on pedestals. The carvings were intricate and lovingly gilded and looking up there were paintings onto the wood panelling of the ceiling. The stained glass windows were as one would expect works of art in themselves and every detail from the pews to the organ pipes were all wonderfully clean and maintained no doubt by many hands. Chris and I agreed that the visit to the Cathedral was one of the highlights of the trip and one to be recommended to anyone should you find yourself in Braga with a little time to spare. We walked out into the surrounding streets and found a sidewalk café where we indulged in coffee and a pastry whilst watching the world go by.

We decided to recce the stadium and get a feel for where it was and how long it would take to get there in the evening. We set off from the hotel and initially went the wrong way despite having a map but found it easily enough in the end. It really has to be one of the most interesting stadiums anywhere in the world. It is constructed on the site of an old quarry and there is no seating or terracing behind either goal. There are two huge stands lining each side of the pitch and behind one of the goals there is a sheer rock face. Having purchased a memento scarf and a couple of programmes, it was time to head back. We recorded that the distance to town from the ground was only 2 km but it was up a very steep slope all the way; catch a bus on the way back after the match then we thought! It was now about three o’clock and time to join the other members of the faithful in the square. As is our wont we had taken over the main hostelry there and the fountain area. One intrepid soul, Kenan aka ‘K’ was at the top of a frame holding Christmas lights over the fountain putting up a flag. The local police were waiting for him when he eventually came down and merely told him he would have to pay for any damaged lights; got off scot-free then! I asked K how he was going to get the flag down without consequences to which he answered, “Dunno, not my flag!” There were flags of all sorts over the frame including one berating our erstwhile former manager. The beer flowed and there were novel ways of keeping it cold in the fountain with boxes sunk in the water and retrieved by a frogman at one point. The time came for us to walk to the ground and we took advantage of a couple of bars along the way. Finally we were assembled in the ground.

I’m not going to go into great detail about the game itself as those who were there will know what happened and many more watched the match on telly back in the UK. However, everything conspired against Blues on the night. The goal Braga scored was a complete fluke and Viani cannot possibly claim the credit for it as his shot was going well wide before it hit Curtis Davies to deflect cruelly past the wrong-footed Boaz Myhill. On balance I thought Blues were the better side in the first half and deserved the penalty award they got in the 11th minute. The miss from Zigic was shocking as he didn’t commit properly to the shot which you have to do if you are going to open up your body like he did. It was the easiest save that Quim, the Braga goalkeeper will make all season and even then he nearly paid for not grasping the ball first time as Burke got to the rebound but couldn’t score from where he was and had to square it and the chance was gone and with it our survival in the competition I suspect. We should have had a penalty just before for a blatant hand-ball that prevented Burke’s cross coming in from the right and Ewerton who was booked for the penalty incident when he felled Wade Elliott in the box clattered Burke soon after and should have been booked again and thus should have walked.

Quim saved the free kick from Murphy brilliantly and the goalkeeper also kept out shots from Fahey and a point blank header from Caldwell. Braga for all their excellence when they played us at St Andrews offered very little and were second best for most of the first half. There is no doubt Blues should have been ahead for their endeavours so it was inevitable that the sucker punch should come in the second period for their failure to take their chances. Hugo Viana hit a shot from 25 yards more in desperation than anything else but it was tame and going at least six yards wide by my reckoning when I saw the highlights in the restaurant later on. It struck the unlucky Curtis Davies and rebounded into the net with Myhill committed the other way. It was a cruel deflection and typical of what happens to Blues on these sorts of occasions in big games. I’ve been watching them long enough to know that we weren’t going to retrieve this one. Despite huffing and puffing and bombarding the hosts with balls into the box from out wide it was the home side who finished the stronger and had at least three chances to double their lead towards the end through Mossaro, Lima and Menda but all of them fluffed their lines when in good positions as Blues got caught vainly searching for the equaliser. News unfolding from Slovenia that Maribor were throwing away a 3-0 lead with only 15 minutes left to lose 4-3 to Clubbe Brugges just reinforced for the travelling faithful that it was not to be our night.

On the way out of the stadium it became clear that we weren’t going to get a bus easily so we elected to brave the steep climb back to town. A young Portuguese couple approached me and the girl asked if I would swap my scarf for her Braga one. I am afraid I let the disappointment of the occasion get to me and at first abruptly refused and walked on. Realising this was an unworthy response; I turned back a minute or so later and offered my scarf as requested. I got the worst end of the deal from the point of view of the respective garments but hey I can always buy another one and it was undoubtedly the right thing to do. The delight on the young woman’s face confirmed this belief. I do get a bit down sometimes immediately after a game especially when we have lost and not deserved to but I’d like to think that bad grace in defeat is not one of my normal traits so I hope my actions made amends.

We eventually reached the same restaurant as the previous evening and enjoyed another sumptuous meal which included the speciality dish of cod baked in rock salt; it was divine!

The Good: Everything about the trip apart from the result of the game was brilliant. I am so glad I decided to go and many thanks to my mate Chris for helping to make it so memorable.

The Bad: The penalty miss, the result and the fact that we are probably out of the competition now. The silver lining is that we can now concentrate of the league as Chris rightly pointed out.

The Ugly: My bad tempered and reprehensible rudeness towards the young Portuguese couple at the end of the game but I hope they will have forgiven my moment of weakness.

Braga (4-3-3): Quim 8, Salino 6, Elderson 7 (Douglao 68, 6), Ewerton 7, Paulo Vinicius 6, Djamal, Mossoro 7 (Fran Merida 84, N/A), Barbosa 6 (Paulo Cesar 68, 6), Hugo Viana 7, Alan 7, Lima 7. Not used: Berni, Galo, Nuno Gomes.

Blues (4-4-1-1/4-4-2): Myhill 6. Spector 6. Murphy 6. Caldwell 7. Davies 8. Burke 7. Fahey 6. N’Daw 6. Elliott 7 (King 64, 5). Zigic 6. (Wood 76, 5). Beausejour 6 (Redmond 64, 5). Not used: Doyle, Pablo, Gomis, Rooney.

Referee: Markus Strombergsson (Sweden) 4; Bottled two key decisions; the hand ball that would have given us a penalty before the one that was and failing to send off Ewerton was a dereliction of duty that probably cost Blues this match. The central defender was solid after his reprieve and instrumental in preventing us getting back into the game after Braga had scored. Braga were very lucky to win this game.

Attendance: 9, 957 (1,769 away fans).

Bookings: Ewerton (10, foul), Alan (86, foul) – Braga.

Caldwell (39, foul), Burke (90+3, foul) – Blues.