Portsmouth punished in Portugal

UEFA cup, Portsmouth took a pounding from Sporting de Braga of 3-0.

Luis Aguiar fired a fabulous 30 yard free kick in the eight minute of the game and opened the goal account, sfter half time Renteria scored the second one and just three minutes before the ninety minutes Alan pounced to the final goal for Braga.

Manager Harry Redknapp looked a depressed figure but he must now lift his troops for three Premier League matches in seven days starting with Fulham on Sunday.

Portsmouth had reached the group stages thanks to a nerve-testing 2-2 draw three weeks ago just down the road from Braga against neighboring Vitoria Guimarães, who, on paper are a superior side to Braga.

Harry Redknapp pointed the finger at Sporting Braga’s ‘divers’ who had four players booked and Redknapp admitted he was frustrated by the night’s proceedings - especially with the antics of the opposition and the officials.

“I got frustrated with the whole game to be honest.” Said Redknapp. “Right from the start I thought that the referee had no idea whatsoever.

It’s frightening, they were diving all over the place and nearly every decision seemed to be a booking.”

Slovenian referee Darko Ceferin booked Pompey’s Papa Bouba Diop, Noe Pamarot, Jermain Defoe - for shooting into the net when given offside - and Peter Crouch.

He also booked Braga goal scorer Wason Renteria for trying to persuade the official to caution Pompey substitute Nadir Belhadj for a foul.

But Braga coach Jorge Jesus said: “Our players only went down because of the Portsmouth players’ fouls. We thought the referee did a good job.”

Redknapp added: “A few weeks ago we had a great Turkish referee in Guimarães near here and it was a good game. This time I thought it was very poor. “