With FC Barcelona already assured top spot and AC Milan second, the only remaining question in Group H is which club will take third place and BATE Borisov visit the Camp Nou with it all to do if they are to avoid the wooden spoon.
Viktor Goncharenko’s men sit two points below third-placed FC Viktoria Plzeň after their costly matchday five defeat by the Czech champions. That 1-0 reverse leaves them needing both a victory in Spain, and a defeat for Plzeň at home against AC Milan, if they are to snatch a UEFA Europa League spot. BATE have never before won a UEFA Champions League away game.
Barcelona have no such worries, their 3-2 victory in Milan last time out having established an unbridgeable gap at the top.
BATE suffered a 5-0 home defeat when the teams met for the first time in Minsk in September – their fifth defeat in as many encounters with Spanish opposition.
This is the Belarusian title holders’ third visit to Spain, where they went down 4-1 to Villarreal CF in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup first round and 2-0 to Real Madrid CF in the following season’s UEFA Champions League group stage.
Dmitri Likhtarovich, Aleksandr Volodko, Aleksandr Yurevich and unused substitutes Aleksandr Gutor and Maksim Skavysh were all involved in that September 2008 defeat in Madrid.
Barcelona are unbeaten in 12 European home matches dating back to a defeat by FC Rubin Kazan on 20 October 2009. Their sequence of results at the Camp Nou since comprises ten wins and two draws.
BATE‘s overall record on their UEFA Champions League travels this term, qualifying included, is W1 D3 L1. In the group stage matches this season and in 2008/09, they have recorded three draws and two defeats.