Meireles previews Braga clash

Life in England didn't take long to change Raul Meireles. But when it comes to on-field matters, the midfielder sees no reason to compromise his trademark appearance.

Meireles returned to his Portuguese homeland yesterday for the first time with Liverpool since making a £10.5m move from Porto last August.

The locals, though, would have been forgiven for taking a second glance at the 27-year-old, who after just a solitary Premier League outing decided on a drastic image change.

For while Portuguese football saw a hirsute Meireles blossom into a regular international, it has been with a shaven head that the midfielder has been winning the approval of the Anfield support with a series of impressive performances and crucial goals.

"This is the English style!" exclaims the Portugal international when quizzed on his severe crop. "I did not have too much hair before.

"My first game, against Birmingham, I saw a photo in the newspaper, and I was doing a cross and in the picture it looked like I did not have hair. So I cut it off.

"My daughter shaved it off. She is six. It is a little dangerous, but I trust her. I am happy with the job she did.

"It was not because everyone looks tough. I did not like that photo. The weather here, with the wind and the rain, it is not good for your hair. I am better this way."

The passing of the Anfield hotseat from Roy Hodgson to Kenny Dalglish in January has coincided with a marked improvement in the effectiveness of Meireles, whose purple patch of four strikes in five games included a memorable winner at Chelsea and a goal-of-the-season contender at Wolves.

While Meireles' technical prowess is clear, doubts persist over his ability to compete in the rough and tumble of a Premier League midfield battle.

But the Portuguese insists he can only be himself, saying: "It is difficult for me to be aggressive, because I am not naturally like that.

"Every game in England there are lots of tackles. I do not know if you can learn to be aggressive. I think if you are like that when you are young, it is always there. But I do not think I need to be.

"It is not my style. I have not had to change my style too much (to fit in at Liverpool). I try to do my job, as I did at Porto. I am just me.

"I'm very happy at Liverpool. I'm living a dream by playing here, they are one of the top clubs in the world. Who wouldn't be happy playing here? I work every day to be a better player."

With the injured Steven Gerrard absent, Meireles will assume greater responsibility this evening when Liverpool take on Braga in their Europa League round-of-16 first-leg tie at the breathtaking Estadio Municipal, a Euro 2004 host stadium built in a quarry that consists of a huge rockface behind one goal and an open view overlooking the city at the other.

The midfielder has played 11 times against Braga during his career, winning five and losing only twice.

And he says: "I expect a difficult match. I know Braga very well, they have a good team. The manager is a very good manager and always prepares his teams very well at home. It'll be a tough match but we are prepared for it.

"Obviously, I had a talk with Kenny and explained that last season Braga had a magnificent season. I expect that Braga will be a tough competitor but I gave Kenny a few tips.

"We all know what we have to do and we'll work very hard. We know we're going to have to give 100% in this game, and if we do then we'll have a good chance of winning."

Meireles puts his recent goalscoring form down to a tactical tweak from Dalglish.

"The big difference now is that with Kenny as manager I am playing in a different position on the pitch," he adds. "That's maybe why I've been scoring more goals lately. It doesn't matter if I'm scoring a lot of goals, I am just glad to contribute to the team."

Dalglish need only speak to a few old friends for further indication of the threat of Braga, who will become Liverpool's 113th different European opponents this evening.

The Portuguese side eliminated Celtic from this season's Champions League during the qualifying rounds, winning 3-0 at home before holding out for a 2-1 defeat in the return leg.

Braga went on to beat Sevilla in the final play-off and claimed the scalp of Arsenal 2-0 at home during the group stages, although their limitations on the road were ruthlessly exposed in a 6-0 thrashing in the Emirates earlier in the campaign.

Domingos Paciencia's side finished third behind the Gunners and Shakhtar Donetsk to drop into the Europa League, where they set up this evening's tie by coming from behind to beat Lech Poznan last month.

The Estadio Municipal has proven something of a fortress this season for Braga, who have won five of their six home games in Europe while keeping a clean sheet in each of those victories. Shakhtar, 3-0 winners, are the only visitors to emerge with any reward.

Braga recorded their highest-ever domestic league finish last season when finishing second behind Benfica, but have struggled this term and currently lie in sixth place, losing nine of their 22 games and a huge 31 points off leaders Porto.

"It's a difficult match for us," says Dalglish. "We have watched them on DVD and we know what we are up against. They had a fantastic season last year and this year maybe not as well as they had hoped.

"That doesn't mean to say it will be anything other than difficult. They work very hard for each other and are very well organised, and if we aren't up for it then we will be in trouble.

"But we hope that Braga will be saying the same thing about us."

Source: Daily Post

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