Plzeň and BATE seek flying start

Newcomers FC Viktoria Plzeň and FC BATE Borisov will be determined to make a positive start after making it all the way from the second qualifying round to UEFA Champions League Group H.

Previous meetings
• The sides have never met in UEFA competition. Plzeň are playing Belarusian opposition for the first time, and this will be BATE's first encounter against a Czech side.

• Ten previous games have been played between sides from the two nations over the course of five two-legged ties. The Czech side has won five of those matches to the Belarusian club's three.

• The Czech sides' home record in five games against Belarusian opponents reads W3 D1 L1.

Match background
• Having failed to win a game in their first two continental campaigns – in the 1971/72 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League – Plzeň have recorded victories in all six of their European fixtures this season.

• This is the first time Plzeň have reached the group stage of a European club competition, having won the 2010/11 Czech title in their centenary year.

• Plzeň are yet to keep a clean sheet in five UEFA competition home fixtures.

• BATE are competing in the UEFA Champions League group stage for the second time. They made their debut in 2008/09, drawing home (2-2) and away (0-0) against Juventus and also recording a 1-1 draw at FC Zenit St Petersburg, although they still finished bottom of their section having lost twice to Real Madrid CF.

• BATE then qualified for the first two UEFA Europa League group stages, successfully getting through a group stage for the first time last season when they reached the round of 32 before bowing out to Paris Saint-Germain FC on away goals following 2-2 and 0-0 draws.

• Unbeaten in six games this season, winning three, BATE have gone eight European matches without losing since a 3-0 defeat at AZ Alkmaar in their final 2010/11 UEFA Europa League group stage fixture, a run comprising three wins and five draws.

• BATE are unbeaten in their last four European away games, recording a win and three draws and conceding only one goal.

Team ties
• Viktoria coach Pavel Vrba met Belarusian opponents while in charge at MŠK Žilina in 2008; the Slovakian team took on FC MTZ-RIPO Minsk (now FC Partizan Minsk) in the UEFA Cup first qualifying round. The sides drew 2-2 in Minsk but Žilina prevailed 1-0 in the return fixture. BATE's Maksim Bordachev and Artyom Kontsevoi played in both legs for MTZ-RIPO.

• BATE defender Yegor Filipenko scored Belarus's winner against the Czech Republic in the third-place play-off at this summer's UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Denmark to earn his side a berth in next summer's Olympic Games. Team-mates Dmitri Baga and Pavel Nekhaychik were also on the winning side.

• Plzeň's Martin Fillo and Daniel Kolář met BATE's Artyom Radkov and Aleksandr Pavlov when their nations met in a UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifier on 6 June 2006. Kolář scored one and set up the other in a 2-1 win for the home team.