Braga captain Ricardo Horta is determined to win the Europa League for veteran team-mate Joao Moutinho.

The Portuguese side face Freiburg in the semi-finals, with the first leg taking place at the Estadio Municipal de Braga on Thursday.

Braga are into only their second-ever major European semi-final – they knocked out fellow Portuguese side Benfica in the 2010-11 Europa League before losing to Porto in the final.

Only two players have been involved in more goals in the Europa League this season than Horta (four goals, four assists).

Horta now has 32 goal involvements in the competition for Braga (18 goals, 14 assists), the outright most of any player for a single side since 2009-10.

The Braga skipper is excited about the semi-final, revealing their motivation was boosted by the hopes of giving Moutinho another Europa League winners' medal, after his triumph with Porto in 2011.

"I feel the team is very motivated to play this semi-final. I think we all know the importance of this game and the importance of a Portuguese team being in a European final," said Horta.

"The team is aware of this. We are very motivated, a little anxious for the game to start, so we can show our quality on the field. We are all prepared to play a good game.

"In my case, there are always butterflies before any game. It's true that it's the first time I'm going to play a semi-final for the club, but it will be a game like any other, where I want to help the team win and come out victorious at the end of the game.

"We know that Joao Moutinho is the only one who has reached a final and won, so what I can say is that we all want Joao Moutinho to win again."

Freiburg have made the semi-finals of a European competition for the very first time. Including East German teams, they are the 26th team from Germany to play in a major European semi-final, and the first new team since RB Leipzig in the 2019-20 UEFA Champions League.

"We know just how much it means to be playing this game. A European semi-final doesn’t come around every day. We can sense the excitement and nerves among the lads," said Freiburg boss Julian Schuster.

"We know the quality we're going to face, but we also have high standards of our own.

"We want to pick up where we left off with the performances we've shown over the last few weeks."