BATE host Roma seeking Italian first

FC BATE Borisov go in search of a first victory over Italian opposition when they host Group E rivals AS Roma on matchday two.

• Roma will visit Belarus heartened by an opening 1-1 draw with reigning champions FC Barcelona while BATE will hope for better after their 4-1 curtain-raising loss at Bayer 04 Leverkusen.

Match background

BATE
• BATE are bidding for a fourth straight home victory in this season's competition, having already accounted for Dundalk FC (2-1), Videoton FC (1-0) and FK Partizan (1-0) in the qualifying rounds and play-offs.

• This fixture is the Belarusian title holders' third UEFA Champions League home game against Serie A visitors and the previous two finished in draws – 1-1 with AC Milan in 2011/12, and 2-2 with Juventus in 2008/09.

• Dmitri Likhtarovich, Vitali Rodionov, Igor Stasevich and Aleksandr Volodko are survivors of the home draw with Juve on 30 September 2008.

• BATE's overall record against Italian sides is four draws and four defeats from eight matches.

Roma
• This is Roma's first meeting with opponents from Belarus but coach Rudi Garcia will need no introduction to BATE having faced them with LOSC Lille in 2012/13.

• The Borisov outfit beat Garcia's Lille 3-1 in France on 19 September 2012 to register their first win in the UEFA Champions League group stage. BATE's team included Aleksandr Hleb, Likhtarovich, Dmitri Mozolevski, Denis Polyakov, and scorers Edgar Olekhnovich and Volodko.

• Although Lille – featuring Lucas Digne – won the return 2-0 in Minsk, BATE ended up third in the group with Garcia's men bottom.

• On their travels in Europe last term, Roma recorded one victory and one defeat in five games. That solitary success came in the UEFA Europa League – 2-1 at Feyenoord in the round of 32.

• The Giallorossi last won away from home in the UEFA Champions League when overcoming FC Basel 1893 by 3-2 in November 2010.

Coach and player links
• Home coach Aleksandr Yermakovich played in BATE's two UEFA Intertoto Cup ties with Bologna FC in 2002 (0-2 a, 0-0 h). He made his last appearance as a player in European competition as an 89th-minute substitute in the 0-0 UEFA Champions League draw at Juventus in December 2008.

• Edin Džeko and Miralem Pjanić won 2-0 with Bosnia and Herzegovina in a UEFA EURO 2012 qualifier away to a Belarus side including Maksim Zhavnerchik.

• Mikhail Gordeichuk and Dmitri Baga were in the Belarus team who overcame Italy 3-0 in Borisov in October 2010 to qualify for the 2011 UEFA European Under-21 Championship finals (aggregate 3-2).

• Francesco Totti played and Morgan De Sanctis was on the bench when Italy prevailed 4-1 away to Hleb's Belarus in a 2006 FIFA World Cup qualifying match in September 2005. Totti (2) and Daniele De Rossi (1) had earlier scored when Italy edged Belarus 4-3 at home.

• Hleb helped Arsenal FC oust Juventus in the 2005/06 quarter-finals (agg 2-0) and Milan in the 2007/08 round of 16 (agg 2-0)

• Players who have played together:
Hleb & Seydou Keita (Barcelona 2008–09)

Match facts

BATE
• Sergei Chernik has kept a Vysshaya Liga best 15 clean sheets in 21 appearances this season. BATE did not concede a goal until their 11th game of the 2015 campaign.

• Twelve of BATE's 24 wins in all competitions this year have been 1-0.

• Aleksandar Jevtić's first goal for BATE, against FC Torpedo-Belaz Zhodino on 20 September, sealed one of those 1-0 victories.

• Rodionov is expected to return in early November from the knee injury he sustained against Partizan on 26 August.

• Hleb has not featured since suffering a thigh injury on matchday one.

Roma
• Roma suffered their first defeat of the season on 23 September when they lost 2-1 at UC Sampdoria.

• Roma beat Carpi 5-1 on Saturday, Mohamed Salah scoring for the third game in a row. However, Totti, Seydou Keita (both right thigh) and Džeko (right knee) all picked up injuries.

• Totti scored his 300th Roma goal as the Giallorossi drew 2-2 with US Sassuolo Calcio three days earlier. Salah got off the mark for the club in the same game and was also on target in Genoa.

• This is the capital outfit's worst start to a season under Garcia. They started the 2013/14 campaign with ten consecutive Serie A victories and last term won their first five league games.

• Wojciech Szczęsny will be out for four to six weeks after injuring the fourth the finger of his left hand on matchday one.