Hoefkens happy with Brugge lift

Club Brugge KV captain Carl Hoefkens was delighted his team had survived a final onslaught from ten-man SC Braga to earn the 1-1 draw that took them into Friday's UEFA Europa League round of 32 draw as Group H winners, Ryan Donk was particularly pleased with his defence-splitting pass to Vadis Odjidja that preceded the sending-off of Braga's Nigerian defender Elderson. Last season's runners-up were already through and Leandro Salino and Lima are hopeful of further progress, despite missing out on first place.

Carl Hoefkens, Brugge defender
It's a really big thing to win the group, and this one with Birmingham and Braga had two really strong opponents. It also shows the strength of Belgian clubs: three of us were playing in the Europa League, all three were winners of our groups, so I think for Belgian football it's a big success.

When our fourth goal went in against Maribor, that made the difference, we didn't need to win this one. Unfortunately we didn't finish the chances we had in the second half tonight on the counterattack, but that's football. At the end, they had so much quality that they could take risks but we saw it through. We have a really young group of players but we showed tonight that we can play good football and be something in Europe. If we get a good draw, maybe we can go even further.

Ryan Donk, Brugge defender
[On his 40-metre pass to Vadis Odjidja] Yes, it was a nice pass and I plan to tweet about it later! Most of the time it's the midfield players that make this kind of pass, but I saw the chance and played it through to Vadis. Success in this group gives us confidence and is a big boost, also for our Belgian league campaign.

Leandro Salino, Braga midfielder 
We are a bit disappointed not to win, but it was a difficult game and we came away with a draw. We might even have won it at the end, we had a couple of good chances. But what I think was crucial to the outcome was that we were determined in midfield. The red card [after 16 minutes for Elderson] changed things in that they piled forward to score and basically we used the counterattack. The Europa League is important to Braga as we have a tradition to uphold.

Lima, Braga forward
We are disappointed because we came here to win and so win the group. It's not easy to play with ten men but we deserved the draw. We have already reached the final of this competition and the city of Braga and the fans are very hopeful. We have to accept the responsibility and do the best we can.