Friday, May 18th, 2012
BATE come into the game after a draw in their domestic league on Friday evening, with their players having minds on one thing only; FC Barcelona. The Belarusian side face the daunting might of Spain’s finest, but have remained positive nonetheless stressing that they are thinking about a win. It may be a laughable premise but every opponent deserves respect and they’ll be hoping Pep Guardiola’s side are having an off day. BATE are 16 games unbeaten at home since the season started in April, so will have confidence from that for one.
Vitali Rodionov and Evgeni Kuntsevich are out long term with knee injuries while Aleksandr Pavlov and Aleksandr Yurevich are also sidelined.
Barcelona of course is full of confidence themselves after an impressive thrashing of Atlético Madrid on Saturday evening. As ever Lionel Messi was amongst the goals but there was something extra special about his performance this past weekend when he did look just unplayable. Pep Guardiola has been toying with several formations in games so what he goes for here will be between a 4-3-3 or his newly implemented 3-4-3. There has been much debate about the pros and cons of the latter though, in regards to the defensive side of things and whether it does put too much pull on the midfield.
Injuries have done their best to knock Barça off balance this season, as Andrés Iniesta and Alexis Sánchez remain sidelined for the long term. A huge boost though is the return of Gerard Piqué who’ll provide a more reassuring and stable presence in the back line. The formation Barça plays requires a composed heading coming out of the back line with the ball, and Piqué is well versed in such a thing.
FACT: This is the first time in history these clubs have ever met.
Here is our guide to BATE Borisov:
BATE BORISOV
BATE qualified for the Champions League for the second time in their history after coming through three qualifying rounds against Linfield of Northern Ireland, Lithuanian side FK Ekranas and impressively against Austrian champions Sturm Graz 3-1 on aggregate.
Given the draw the best BATE can realistically hope for is continued participation in Europe via the Europa League but they did give another Italian giant problems in 2008/09 when they drew both their matches in the group stage with Juventus.
Summer Signings
BATE’s most noteworthy signing of the summer was that of former Chelsea and Atletico Madrid striker Mateja Kezman. The Serbian had been playing in China last season but has returned to Eastern Europe thanks to the lure of Champions League football.
The rest of the BATE squad is largely made of Belarussian, indeed BATE supplies the spine of the national team that will face Spain in World Cup 2014 qualifiers, but there is also a mix of Brazilian flair thanks to forward Alex Porfirio and midfielder Renan Bressan.
Manager
Viktor Goncharenko became the youngest ever manager to lead a team into the Champions League proper when BATE took on Real Madrid in the Bernabeu three years ago at just 31. Goncharenko who retired from playing at just 26 due to injury has been phenomenaly successful during his three years in charge, winning the league every year and even leading BATE beyond the group stages of the Europa League last season.
Key man
Renan Bressan was named Belarussian player of the year last season and brings both a creative and goalscoring threat to the side. Despite playing behind the main striker he was top scorer in the league last term with 15 goals and will be the dangerman if BATE are to put points on the board.
Tags: Barcelona, BATE Borisov, Champions League, Messi, Pique
what i can say is that FC Barcelona will win BATE with 2-1 or by 2-0 for today`s night match. i trust God and i also have full confidence in barca, that they must be the winning of the today`s match in the Dynamo Stadium, Minsk.