Braga had 26 shots at Aarhus and still came away goalless

Aarhus and SC Braga drew 0-0 in the Europa Conference League, with Braga creating far more than they usually do away from home and still failing to score.

Twenty-six shots and not one of them went in. SC Braga left Cepheus Park with nothing from this Europa Conference League meeting with Aarhus, but the figures show they were the side asking most of the questions, and Aarhus's goalkeeper had to answer them.

Expected goals is a way of adding up the quality of each chance, giving every shot a score for how likely it was to go in. Braga finished with 2.35, which is high when their usual figure in away games is 1.19. Their chances were not just plentiful, they were good ones.

Braga also had far less of the ball than usual. They held 44% possession, against an average of 55.3% in their away matches this season, so this was a night when the shape of the game ran the opposite way to what they normally produce. Aarhus had the ball more often and used it to take the shots that mattered closer to goal.

Eleven of Aarhus's thirteen shots came from inside the penalty area, which is the part of the pitch where a goal is most likely. That was enough to test the visitors, but not enough to beat them, and the difference between the two sides lay in those close-range moments rather than in the volume of attempts.

Mads Hedenstad was the reason Aarhus kept their clean sheet, making nine saves and earning a rating of 9.9, the strongest mark of the night. On the other side, Gabriel Martínez had four shots, two of them on target, and still could not find the net. His 8.2 rating reflects how much Braga relied on him to create something.

Both teams picked up two yellow cards and nobody was sent off, so the goalless draw was played at full strength on both sides throughout. Braga's defence kept a clean sheet against an Aarhus attack that averaged 0.5 goals conceded per game in their away matches, which is a sign of how much the visitors restricted the home side from clear openings.

Aarhus have one point from two games and Braga three, and Braga's away record now reads one win and one defeat from two matches.

Player of the matchMads Hedenstad9 saves9.9

Callum McCowatt2 chances created8.2

Gabriel Martínez4 chances created8.2

Luka Callø2 duels won7.6