Levski Sofia 0-0 Braga - Warriors frustrated in the Europa League qualifiers | OneFootball

Braga earned a 0-0 draw against Levski Sofia in a dull Europa League qualifier in Bulgaria where Carlos Vicens took charge of his first competitive match.

Neither goalkeeper was seriously tested as the Warriors failed to capitalise on a strong start. Vicens will be banking on home advantage playing a role in the second leg next week.

Levski Sofia 0-0 Braga

Rodrigo Zalazar fired wide in the 5th minute and it appeared only a matter of time before the Portuguese club asserted their authority. It wasn’t to be as any momentum gained was quickly evaporated due to frequent fouls and injuries.

Levski Sofia fashioned their first chance in the 25th minute when Kristian Dimitrov headed Maicon’s free kick wide. Rildo scored from an offside position and Marin Petkov tested Lukas Hornicek from long range.

Fran Navarro and Zalazar had chances after the break but Braga were not doing enough to trouble Svetoslav Vutsov. Amine El Ouazzani, Roger Fernandes and Ismaël Gharbi came off the bench for Carlos Vicens’ side who continued to appear disjointed.

Roger created a chance for Gorby that he fired straight at Vutsov, a fitting end to a game that never got going.

Vicens era gets underway

Carlos Vicens came to Braga with plenty of promise having served as Pep Guardiola’s assistant at Manchester City for the previous four seasons. The Spanish manager guided the Warriors to five straight victories in the pre-season friendlies.

António Salvador has backed his new manager by acquiring Gustaf Lagerbielke, Leonardo Lelo, Gabriel Moscardo, Mario Dorgeles and Fran Navarro.

What we saw in Bulgaria was a manager placing square pegs in round holes, implementing a wing-back formation with Vítor Carvalho and Rodrigo Zalazar the wing-backs. Carvalho and Zalazar spent a lot of time drifting infield to try and create overloads, but Braga rarely succeeded in bamboozling Levski’s defence.

Many managers are obsessed with attempting to prove they are master tacticians and trying to reinvent the game. A large proportion of them fail.