BATE v Porto background

FC Porto are already qualified from Group H but opponents FC BATE Borisov will be trying to keep alive their diminishing prospects of advancing with them when the sides meet on matchday five.   

• The 17 September fixture resulted in Porto's biggest ever UEFA Champions League victory, Yacine Brahimi scoring a hat-trick in a 6-0 win – BATE's heaviest away defeat in Europe.

Match background

BATE
• BATE's two previous Portuguese assignments, both in the UEFA Europa League, brought contrasting results. In the 2009/10 group stage they lost 2-1 at home to SL Benfica and 2-0 away. In the following year's play-offs they won 2-1 away to CS Marítimo after a 3-0 home success.

• BATE have conceded 19 goals in their four matches so far, losing 7-0 at home to FC Shakhtar Donetsk on matchday three and 5-0 away two weeks later. Their only win came on matchday two, in the first group stage fixture at their new Borisov Arena, 2-1 against Athletic Club. 

• The most any team has conceded in the group stage is 22, a record shared by GNK Dinamo Zagreb (2011/12) and FC Nordsjælland (2012/13).

• With three points, BATE are five behind Shakhtar and need to win both remaining fixtures to have any hope of continuing their UEFA Champions League journey. Should they win and Athletic fail to beat Shakhtar, the Belarusian side would be guaranteed a place in the UEFA Europa League round of 32.

• In Aleksandr Yermakovich's European bow as coach, BATE overcame KS Skënderbeu in this season's second qualifying round thanks to Anri Khagush's goal in a 1-1 away draw after a goalless home leg.

• They then overturned a 1-0 loss at Debreceni VSC by winning the second leg 3-1 despite going behind at home. Another 1-1 away draw paved the way for a 3-0 home win and a 4-1 aggregate success against ŠK Slovan Bratislava in the play-offs.

Porto
• On matchday two substitute Jackson Martínez struck twice in the closing stages to earn Porto a 2-2 draw at Shakhtar. They followed that with a 2-1 win at home to Athletic before beating the Spanish side 2-0 away.

• That clinched their place in the knockout rounds with ten points, two ahead of Shakhtar who lie in second place. 

• Porto qualified for the group stage with a 2-0 home win in the play-offs against LOSC Lille. Brahimi and Martínez scored second-half goals to seal a 3-0 aggregate success. 

• Before the matchday one meeting, Porto had never played a club from Belarus.

Match facts

BATE
• Khagush serves a one-game ban on matchday five following his dismissal at Shakhtar.

• If BATE captain Dmitri Likhtarovich features against Porto he will equal Aleksandr Hleb's national record of 92 appearances in UEFA club competition.

• BATE stretched their unbeaten league run to a record 30 games with a 4-0 victory over FC Gomel on Saturday, breaking the Belarusian top-flight record high of 29 set by FC Dvina Vitebsk in 1994/95.

• The Belarusian side have this term suffered their heaviest defeats in UEFA competition (home 0-7 v Shakhtar, away 0-6 v Porto).

• BATE clinched their ninth successive league title on 9 November after a 4-0 defeat of FC Naftan Novopolotsk lifted them seven points clear of second-placed FC Dinamo Minsk with two games to play.

• Nikolai Signevich made his international debut on 15 November as Belarus lost 3-0 to Spain in UEFA EURO 2016 qualifying. He started the 3-2 victory over Mexico three days later in Borisov.

• Maksim Volodko made his international debut against Mexico.

Porto
• Maicon is a booking away from a suspension.

• Porto have not played since 9 November and had no game at the weekend having been knocked out of the Portuguese Cup by Sporting Clube de Portugal in October.

• The Dragons are the only unbeaten team in the Portuguese Liga this season, though they needed a 94th-minute Óliver Torres goal to salvage a 2-2 draw against Estoril Praia on 9 November.

• Porto are eight matches unbeaten on their travels this season, winning four and drawing four.

• Porto had 13 players on international duty last week: Ricardo Quaresma (Portugal), Rúben Neves, Ricardo Pereira (Portugal U21), Alex Sandro, Danilo, Casemiro (Brazil), Kelvin (Brazil U21), Héctor Herrera, Diego Reyes (Mexico), Martínez, Juan Quintero (Colombia), Vincent Aboubakar (Cameroon) and Brahimi (Algeria).

• Casemiro won his sixth and seventh caps for Brazil over two years after his fifth in friendly wins against Turkey and Austria.

• Neves and Ricardo Pereira were in the Portugal U21 side whose 20-month unbeaten run ended with a 3-1 friendly defeat in England on 13 November.

• Aboubakar scored the goal against DR Congo that earned Cameroon a place at the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations. Brahimi was on target as already-qualified Algeria beat Ethiopia 3-1.

• Bruno Martins Indi withdrew from the Netherlands squad with illness but resumed full training on 14 November.