Lazio finished top of the Europa League group stage despite a 1-0 defeat at Sporting Braga on Thursday as the Portuguese side failed to secure a playoff spot.

Braga completes Europa League journey in 25th place, missing out on qualification to knockout phase playoffs - Anadolu Ajansı

Fenerbahce and Porto avoided early exits from the Europa League on Thursday, as Lazio topped the standings and Braga crashed out.

Lazio suffered an unlucky and ultimately irrelevant defeat to SC Braga, as they still topped the Europa League table in this opening phase.The Aquile were the only side already guaranteed a place in

Carlos Carvalhal finally dropped his charges against João Moutinho. He understood, after several poor performances, that he is by far the best midfielder in his team. Today, Moutinho was in charge of leading the team to an absolute miracle: defeat Lazio (the best team in the Europa League) and give the Arsenalistas some hope.

Lazio coach Marco Baroni insists he will ‘retain my optimism’ after the chaotic 2-1 home defeat to Fiorentina and refuses to use the Europa League strain as ‘an alibi.’

Lazio finished top of the Europa League group stage despite a 1-0 defeat at Sporting Braga on Thursday as the Portuguese side failed to secure a playoff spot. Braga opened the scoring in the sixth minute when Ricardo Horta fired into the bottom corner from Victor Gomez's cross.