Braga’s hopes of contesting a second successive Europa League soccer final were hit on Tuesday when Besiktas won the first leg of their round of 32 meeting.

Tomas Sivok’s header and Simao’s strike gave Besiktas a 2-0 win in Portugal after Braga had Helder Barbosa sent off in the 29th minute for a second bookable offence.

Also on Tuesday, David Fuster gave Olympiakos a 1-0 victory at Rubin Kazan with a 71st-minute goal.

The Russian side looked set to equalise two minutes later when goalkeeper Balazs Megyeri was sent off for a foul on Gokdeniz Karadeniz.

But substitute goalkeeper Roy Carroll, who joined Olympiakos last month, came on to save Bebras Natcho’s penalty, and the 10-man Greek side held on to take a big advantage into the return leg at home on February 23.

Most of the first-leg matches are being played on Thursday when reigning English champions Manchester United and Manchester City, the Premier League leaders, are in action after dropping out of the Champions League.

United plays Dutch giant Ajax in a matchup between two storied teams who have been crowned European champions seven times between them.