Lima curled home a free-kick 10 minutes before the break and Matheus converted a close-range clincher in the last minute to give the hosts their first points of the competition while condemning Partizan to a third straight defeat. Victory boosted Braga's hopes of taking a consolation place in the Europa League with Arsenal and Shakhtar Donetsk in pole position to progress from the group. The desperately uninspiring start to the game, though, suggested a place in Europe's secondary competition was a prize neither Partizan nor Braga were too fussed about. Marko Scepovic and Cleo barely tested goalkeeper Luiz Felipe with long-range efforts for Partizan. Defender Stefan Savic blocked two similarly optimistic attempts at the other end from Paulo Cesar and Andres Madrid before a rare moment of quality gave Braga the lead. Moreira brought down Lima 20 yards from goal to the left of centre and the Brazilian exacted the ultimate punishment, curling the resulting free-kick into the near top corner with his right foot in the 35th minute, Braga's first goal of the group stages. Alexander Lazevski had a chance to equalise a minute later but his weak volley from close range went wide of the left post. Braga threatened a second at the start of the second period and Vladimir Stojkovic pulled off a fine save to keep out a Paulao header from Uwa Echiejile's cross. But Partizan began to show more adventure as the time ticked away and Felipe had to be alert to first parry Nemanja Tomic's shot from the right of the area and then save Sasa Ilic's follow-up header. At the other end Stojkovic parried Matheus' shot from the left side of the area before Braga were again indebted to the reflexes of Felipe. The keeper tipped Cleo's drilled effort from long range over the top. But Matheus sealed the points for the home side in the 90th minute by slotting home from Luis Aguiar's pass into the middle.
