This is the first ever European meeting between Braga and Freiburg – the Portuguese side have won five out of 13 major European games against German teams (D3 L5), though all five have been in group stage matches; they are winless and goalless in four games in the knockout stages (D1 L3).

Freiburg’s only previous European encounter with a Portuguese club came in the 2013-14 UEFA Europa League group stage, drawing 1-1 at home and 0-0 away against Estoril Praia.

Braga are into only their second ever major European semi-final – they knocked out fellow Portuguese side Benfica in the 2010-11 UEFA Europa League before losing to Porto in the final.

Freiburg have made the semi-finals of a European competition for the very first time – including East German teams, they are the 26th team from Germany to play in a major European semi-final, and first new team since RB Leipzig in the 2019-20 UEFA Champions League.

Braga have won the first leg of just two of their last 11 UEFA Europa League knockout ties (D1 L8), beating Monaco 2-0 in the 2021-22 last 16 and Rangers 1-0 in the quarter-finals of that same season.

Freiburg have scored 11 goals in their last three UEFA Europa League matches, beating Genk 5-1 along with 3-0 and 3-1 wins over Celta de Vigo in the quarter-final. The last side to net 3+ goals in four in a row were Lyon between September and November 2021.

Braga scored with five of their 13 shots in the quarter-finals against Real Betis (38.5%), including four out of six in the second leg. They have an overall conversion rate of 17.4% this season (20 goals from 115 shots), the joint best alongside FC Midtjylland whose record is identical to Braga’s.

With Carlos Vicens managing Braga and Julian Schuster managing Freiburg, this is the second UEFA Europa League semi-final to see a Spanish and German manager facing off – in 2015-16, Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool knocked out Marcelino García Toral’s Villarreal 3-1 on aggregate.

Only two players have been involved in more goals in the UEFA Europa League this season than Ricardo Horta (4 goals, 4 assists). Horta now has 32 goal involvements in the competition for Braga (18 goals, 14 assists), the outright most of any player for a single side since 2009-10.

Vincenzo Grifo has 10 goals and six assists in 30 UEFA Europa League appearances for SC Freiburg. Since 2022-23, only Lorenzo Pellegrini (10 goals, 8 assists) has been involved in more goals in the competition.