Braga endured a frustrating night as they were held to a 1-1 draw by the Group H whipping boys NK Maribor on a slippery pitch.
Maribor earned their first point of the group in the Europa League
Braga endured a frustrating night as they were held to a 1-1 draw by the Group H whipping boys NK Maribor on a slippery pitch.
Agim Ibraimi put the home side ahead after 14 minutes with only their second goal of the competition to set them up for an unlikely win.
But Braga's Uwa Echiejile conjured the equaliser just before the interval and sadly for them, the winning goal eluded them.
The conditions definitely played a part in this game as the Braga defenders cursed their luck as they failed to keep their balance.
As they struggled to stay on their feet, Ibraimi had no such problems and fired a low shot past Silva Quim to give his side the lead.
Close-range
Rodrigo Lima almost equalised for Braga less than 10 minutes later but his close-range strike flew over the bar.
Braga kept up the pressure, and Maribor goalkeeper Jasmin Handanovic was forced into a clearance in the 25th minute when Nascimento Vinicius headed Miguel Viana's inswinging corner from the centre of the area.
Minutes later, Braga won a free-kick in a good position when Ales Mertelj fouled Jorge Barbosa, but Viana's free-kick was blocked by Soares Arghus.
The defender made another clearance just after half an hour when he blocked Lima's shot as the visitors threw everything into finding the equaliser.
Viana delivered another testing free-kick 10 minutes before the break, forcing Handanovic into another save, before goalscorer Ibraimi almost doubled Maribor's lead at the other end when his shot was punched clear by Quim.
Equaliser
However, Braga did find the equaliser just before the break thanks to a slice of luck for Echiejile.
Viana's free-kick bounced off two Braga players before Echiejile poked home from close range in a scrappy piece of play to level the scores before half-time.
Viana almost put Braga in front five minutes after the break but his shot flew over the bar with Maribor defender Dejan Trajkovski's shot going the same way in the 59th minute.
After that there were few clear-cut chances in the second half with the best coming from successive Ibraimi corners for the home side, but both were cleared by Braga's defence.
Echiejile's handball in the final minute gave Maribor a chance in the dying seconds but Ibraimi's free-kick was caught by Quim in the last real action of the game.
