The only previous European meeting between Real Betis and Sporting Braga was in the first leg of this tie, a 1-1 draw, with Betis unbeaten across their last five European games against Portuguese sides (W3 D2).
This is the fourth time Braga have visited Spain for a European match – their one win was in a UEFA Champions League qualifier against Sevilla in August 2010, a 4-3 victory. In their other two, they lost 2-0 to Sevilla in November 2006 in the UEFA Cup and 3-0 against Real Madrid in November 2023 in the UEFA Champions League.
Real Betis have won their last four home UEFA Europa League matches, their longest home winning run in major European competition since a six-game run between September 1998 and November 2002 in the UEFA Cup. They’ve won their last three at the Estadio de La Cartuja in the knockout stages.
When playing away from home, Sporting Braga have lost nine of their last 11 major European knockout matches (W1 D1), with their only win coming at Qarabag in February 2024, though it wasn’t enough to stop them from being eliminated.
Real Betis are looking to reach the semi-finals of a major European competition for a second consecutive season, having done so in last season’s Conference League when they eventually lost the final to Chelsea. They’d played in 14 major European seasons before 2024-25 and only reached the quarter-final twice (1977-78 and 1997-98 Cup Winners’ Cup).
This is only Sporting Braga’s fourth major European quarter-final, all in the UEFA Europa League, progressing just once in 2010-11 vs Dynamo Kyiv. They’ve lost their two since in 2015-16 vs Shakhtar Donetsk and 2021-22 vs Rangers. They’ve never won the second leg of a quarter-final (D1 L2).
Sporting Braga’s Florian Grillitsch has been involved in three goals in his last two UEFA Europa League appearances (2 goals, 1 assist), only one fewer than in his first 32 major European games for Braga, Ajax and Hoffenheim (4 goals).
Cucho Hernández has scored three goals in just four UEFA Europa League starts this season for Real Betis. Among players to play 250+ minutes for them in the competition in 2025-26, Hernández ranks first per 90 minutes for shots (4.8), shots on target (2.5), xG (0.75) and touches in the opposition box (5.3).