Braga handed a nightmare draw as they look to qualify for the Europa League

Braga know they are very much up against it as they look to qualify for Europe's secondary competition once again, handed a tie against German giants RB Leipzig in the play-off round.

Braga were actually the seeded side for the draw, and will consider themselves highly unfortunate to have drawn the hardest possible opposition, with their other possible opponents being Burnley/Istanbul Basaksehir, Molde/Hibernian, Sturm Graz/Larnaca, or Brondby/Spartak Subotica.

There is no guarantee that Braga and Leipzig will meet, of course, with Braga still required to navigate a tricky fixture against Ukrainian side Zorya Luhansk in the third qualifying round - the first leg of which will take place this Thursday - while Leipzig also still need to beat Romanian outfit Craiova to set up the clash.

In all likelihood, however, if Braga are to qualify for the main stage of European competition for the 9th time in ten years, they will need to overcome last season's Champions League group stage competitors, which is sure to prove a stern challenge for Abel Ferreira's side, who would have fancied their chances against any of the other opponents in the draw.

Portugal do know that they will have at least three sides representing them in European competition this season though, with Porto in the Champions League group stage, Sporting in the Europa League main draw and Benfica guaranteed a place in one of Europe's competitions.

It would be a notable decrease in last season though, where a total of five Portuguese sides were present in the main draw of the Champions League and Europa League, with Guimarães joining Braga in the Europa League and the traditional Big Three all qualifying for the Champions league