Copyright scotsman
Claudio Braga’s performance at Ibrox two weeks ago confirmed what Hearts fans already knew: The Portuguese forward is one of the biggest talents in this season’s Scottish Premiership. “Enjoy him while you can, he won’t be here long,” is the feeling among some supporters given Braga’s instant impact in a maroon shirt. For now, he is going nowhere. He enjoys the public adulation too much. When people are stopping cars in city streets to sing your own personal song at you, the level of idolising becomes clear. Hearts fans adapted Queen’s 1984 hit Radio Ga Ga to add Braga’s name into the chorus. It has been belted out at grounds like Tannadice Park and Ibrox as well as Tynecastle Park already this season. There has also been at least one airing on an Edinburgh pavement. “Yeah, it's actually crazy,” said the player. “I talked about it sometimes, but now I know the whole song. It's good when people sing it in the stadium, especially. I had some people that were in the car and stopped the car. They opened the window and started singing the song. I was like: ‘Thank you very much.’ Of course, it's really good at such a big club, knowing that the fans like me in that way. “I had songs at both [previous] clubs in Norway, but I think this is a little bit different just because it's way more supporters. Plus, the song is a full song and it's a famous song, so it's like two minutes long. It's a little bit different and, of course, when listening to it in a stadium with 20,000, or 10,000 away at Rangers and knowing that it's for me, it's great. It also gives me this [sense of] responsibility of: ‘I need to work if I want them to sing my song.’ It's a very known song also in Portugal.” A unique combination of energy, skill and goals mark Braga out from most other players in Scotland. He was the best man on the pitch in Hearts’ 2-0 win at Ibrox but admitted frustration waiting two weeks for the next fixture. It comes on Saturday against Falkirk. “Of course, it's a good feeling when you win. It's just weird that you don't play straight away,” he said. “Now we just need to keep the momentum of that good part of the season and just hopefully keep going even though we have some stoppage. It's such a big squad and then it's like, if you don't step in, another player will. We need to step up every day because it's such a good quality squad also. It's not like the guys who are not playing are not good enough to play. It's not like that. It's like the guys that are not playing are just millimetres away from playing. It's just that difference. “I feel like we are in a good moment, so we get there with a little less pressure than them [Rangers]. If we are at our best, we can actually beat anybody. But, of course, we need to also pay attention and know that no games are equal. Every team is pretty equal in the system. It's only 12 teams in the top league and they are the best from Scotland. We need to be careful. Okay, we win, we are in good momentum, but we need to keep our feet on the ground and work for the next game.” Scoring six goals in your first 10 games for a team joint-top of the Premiership means people will quickly recognise you. Braga senses the excitement among the Hearts support. “Yeah, I feel that and that's also very good. Because we're doing so well, there's more excitement when you get to meet people. Of course, if we're doing worse, I believe it would be for different reasons that people would like to meet us,” he laughed. “But right now it's been all good. “Individual and collective performance has been good, so that excitement is also good to receive. I don't go out that often, but when I go just for a walk in the centre of the city, of course, one or two fans or some guys get to recognise you. But I'm not the kind of guy that goes out that often. I'm here to play football, so I’m just more chill - going home after training and stay there a little bit, talk with my family.” He is reluctant to divulge too many of the comments from supporters. “Some I can't say,” he smirked. “I feel like people recognise that we are doing a good job and just to keep the work. A lot of people go a little bit next level when it comes to silverware and everything. But for us, we can't get in that wave that fast. It's only five games and we are not the heroes now. We probably can talk about that some games from the end. For now, we need to keep low. People talk about that and they are very excited because we are first place with Celtic. We have to keep going.” Three points against newly-promoted Falkirk are not a certainty by any means. Hearts must earn anything they get from John McGlynn’s side. “We analysed them but we know how they play,” explained Braga. “We worked on how we want to press them and how we want to defend against them and how to attack. We just need to focus on some details about them, but mostly about ourselves - the way that we connect with each other, the routines are getting created even more every time we play together. I think that should be the main focus, and some tactical details about Falkirk, but mostly about ourselves.” While there has been some exasperation at the two-week wait to follow up that win at Rangers, Hearts have used the time wisely on the training field. There will soon be another two-week Premiership hiatus for the October international break. “Everybody that plays football knows when it's games, two games a week, you barely train or you can only focus on the games,” Braga pointed out. “So it's good to know what to do now and how to connect with different type of players, because it's such a big squad. “A lot of players are going to be used during the season. It's weird in another way that you don't play every week, but it's important in another way that I think longer in the season we'll take profit from that. I think, until November, we will probably have that [gap in fixtures]. After that, we'll become a little bit tighter. But until November, we'll have to enjoy that boring part of not playing that many games, but also an important part for the team to settle and step up in a way.”
