BATE enter uncharted territory against PSG

FC BATE Borisov have battled through to the springtime stage of a major European tournament for the first time, with Paris Saint-Germain FC set to offer the Belarusian champions a tough task in the UEFA Europa League round of 32.

Previous meetings
• The sides are meeting for the first time with neither having faced opposition from their rivals' home country before.

• Belarusian and French teams have crossed paths in just three previous UEFA club competition games, all of them in the UEFA Intertoto Cup. Two ended in 2-2 draws while the French outfit won the other, LOSC Lille Métropole beating FC Dinamo Minsk 2-1 in the 2004 competition.

Match background
• Viktor Goncharenko's BATE had gone five European games unbeaten at home before succumbing 4-1 to FC Dynamo Kyiv in their final UEFA Europa League group stage home fixture of 2010.

• This will be the first springtime match BATE have played in UEFA club competition, having made it through to the round of 32 for the first time in their history.

• PSG have avoided defeat on their last three European away trips, earning a 1-0 win and two 1-1 draws in the UEFA Europa League group stage.

Team facts
• The second leg of this fixture will be PSG's 150th game in UEFA club competition.

• BATE are three goals shy of conceding their 100th in UEFA club competition; this will be their 73rd European outing.

• BATE's Vitali Rodionov was penalised for 26 fouls in the group stage – eight more than the next highest offender in the competition, BSC Young Boys' Christoph Spycher.

• In a UEFA EURO 2012 qualifying game played in September, Aleksandr Yurevich, Igor Shitov and Vitali Rodionov all featured for a Belarus side that won 1-0 in Paris against a France team including Guillaume Hoarau.

• The overall winners will take on the victors in the tie between SL Benfica and VfB Stuttgart in the round of 16 on 10 and 17 March, contesting the first leg away from home.