BATE hope to floor Plzeň with knockout blow

FC BATE Borisov host Group H rivals FC Viktoria Plzeň on matchday five seeking a victory that would earn them continued European football in the new year.

• BATE's 1-1 home draw with AC Milan last time out lifted them a point above Plzeň at the foot of the table and means they can secure third place, and entry into the UEFA Europa League, by recording what would be their first win in the UEFA Champions League against the Czech title holders.

• Tournament newcomers Plzeň's only point to date came from their earlier encounter with BATE in Prague and they will be equally determined to get a victory with a UEFA Europa League place at stake.

Previous meetings
• When Plzeň and BATE drew 1-1 on matchday one, it was the first time each had faced opponents from Belarus and the Czech Republic respectively.

• There had been ten games played previously between sides from the two nations over the course of five two-legged ties, with five Czech victories and three by Belarusian clubs.

• The Belarusian teams' home record in five games against Czech opponents reads W2 D1 L2.

Match background
• Viktor Goncharenko's BATE will draw confidence from having held Milan on matchday four. Although they went down 5-0 to FC Barcelona in their first Group H fixture at the Dinamo Stadion, that is their only defeat in five European home outings this season, qualifying rounds included. In last term's UEFA Europa League, they lost only one in seven at home.

• Plzeň have lost both away games in Group H – at Milan, then Barcelona – by the same 2-0 scoreline but they did win all three matches on the road in the qualifying rounds.

• Plzeň are playing in the group stage of a UEFA club competition for the first time and prior to this season had only played two away fixtures in Europe – one against FC Bayern München in the 1971/72 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup, the other against Beşiktaş JK in the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League. They lost both.

Team ties
• Viktoria coach Pavel Vrba met Belarusian opponents while in charge of Slovakia's MŠK Žilina in 2008, taking 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.

• Kontsevoi scored for MTZ-RIPO Minsk in a 2005/06 UEFA Cup second qualifying round tie against FK Teplice – he was on target in a 1-1 home draw but his team lost the tie 3-2 on aggregate.

• 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.

• Marián Čišovský scored for MFK Petržalka in a 2-1 home win against FC Dinamo Minsk in the 2006/07 UEFA Cup second qualifying round – and also appeared in his team's 3-2 second-leg success at the Dinamo Stadium.

• Plzeň's Martin Fillo and Daniel Kolář met BATE's Artyom Radkov and Aleksandr Pavlov when their nations met in a European U21 Championship qualifier on 6 June 2006. Kolář scored one and set up the other in a 2-1 win for the home team.

• Fillo and Radkov had earlier met in a European U19 Championship qualifier in Italy in May 2004, Fillo's Czech side prevailing 3-0.