Sporting Braga vs Freiburg Prediction: Horta too hot for visitors

Sporting Braga and SC Freiburg will contest the first leg of their Uefa Europa League semi-final tie this Thursday (20:00 BST, TNT Sports 4) at the Portuguese side's Estadio Municipal de Braga.

Below are my Sporting Braga vs Freiburg predictions, supported by all the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

PSG loanee Gabriel Moscardo, who has started Sporting Braga's last five games, is suspended after picking up his third European yellow card of the season in the 4-2 quarter-final second-leg victory at Real Betis.

Adrian Barisic (muscle), Sikou Niakate (Achilles) and Diego Rodrigues (ankle) are out injured for Carlos Vicens' side, while there are doubts over the availaibility of Bright Arrey-Mbi, Florian Grillitsch and Vitor Carvalho (all unspecified).

Football Odds

As for Julian Schuster's Freiburg, Jordy Makengo (muscle) and Patrick Osterhage (knee) look set to sit out Thursday's first leg in Portugal.

Sporting Braga vs Freiburg Odds

Braga are 7/5 favourites to take a first-leg lead, implying a 41.7% probability of success, with Freiburg 21/10, or a 32.3% chance, and the draw also offered at 21/10.

Anytime Goalscorer - Ricardo Horta (BRA) @ 9/4

Braga forward Ricardo Horta has enjoyed another strong campaign with Os Arsenalistas, scoring 21 goals in 51 appearances across all competitions, and he's just three strikes behind his season best of 24 goals in 2019/20.

The 31-year-old has struck four times in this season's Europa League, and three of those goals have come in the knockout phase; two in the second leg of Braga's last-16 tie with Ferencvaros, and one in the second leg of their quarter-final showdown with Betis.

Today's Football Fixtures

Horta has scored twice in his last three games, and having been rested on Sunday as his side went down 2-1 at Santa Clara in the league, he should be fit and firing for Thursday's first leg against Freiburg, who haven't kept a clean sheet in their last four matches.

Both Teams To Score - Yes @ 5/6

Both teams have scored in five of Braga's last eight games, including three of their four in the second half of April.

It's also been a winning bet in five of their last seven home matches across all competitions, with their last Europa League contest on home soil, the first leg of their quarter-final tie with Betis on April 8, ending 1-1.

Freiburg, meanwhile, failed to fire in a 4-0 hammering at Borussia Dortmund last Sunday, but they had scored in their previous eight games, with six also seeing their opponents find the back of the net, too.

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