Fenerbahçe home in on BATE success

Fenerbahçe SK will look to make the most of a second chance against FC BATE Borisov in the UEFA Europa League round of 32 after hanging on for a 0-0 draw in Belarus in the first leg.

• Reduced to ten men after just four minutes when Raul Meireles was sent off, the Turkish side managed to hold out for a draw, with BATE unable to make their numerical advantage count.

Previous meetings
• The sides met for the first time last week. This is BATE's first tie against a Turkish club and Fenerbahçe's maiden encounter with Belarusian opponents.

• Including last week's first leg, 10 UEFA club competition games have been played between Turkish and Belarusian sides, with the Turkish clubs having the better of them: W5 D2 L3 (W3 D0 L1 in Turkey, W2 D2 L2 in Belarus).

• No Belarusian club has beaten a Turkish side in five attempts since the turn of the millennium.

• The Turkish and Belarusian senior national teams have never met in a competitive fixture, though they have come together in three friendlies: Turkey beat Belarus 3-2 in Izmir in 1996 but lost 2-1 in Denizli in 2004, with the most recent encounter – in Minsk in 2008 – ending 2-2.

• BATE's Yegor Filipenko and Aleksandr Hleb came up against Fenerbahçe's Gökhan Gönül, Mehmet Topal and Selçuk Şahin in that most recent fixture.

Match background
• Fenerbahçe have won just one of their last eight European home games – a 2-0 win against AEL Limassol FC in this season's UEFA Europa League group stage – with five of those fixtures ending in draws.

• BATE are without a win in their last five UEFA Europa League games, and have lost their last two European games on the road, having gone without defeat for their first four of this season – two wins and two draws.

• Fenerbahçe have reached the round of 32 on three previous occasions, but have yet to win a game – let alone progress to the round of 16 – at this stage. They were eliminated by Real Zaragoza in 2004/05, AZ Alkmaar (2006/07) and LOSC (2009/10).

• The Belarusian champions last reached the round of 32 in 2010/11, the only time they have previously made it into the new year in UEFA competition. They bowed out straight away, losing on away goals after 2-2 and 0-0 draws against Paris Saint-Germain FC. They have thus drawn all three of their round of 32 ties to date.

Team facts
• This is BATE's 100th UEFA club competition game; the previous 99 ended W38 D24 L37.

• Aykut Kocaman made his name with Fenerbahçe as a striker, winning two titles in an eight-year stint (1988–96). He moved into coaching at Istanbulspor AŞ and – following spells at Malatyaspor, Konyaspor and Ankaraspor AŞ – became Fenerbahçe's director of football. He then became coach in 2010, winning the title in his first season and the Turkish Cup in the next campaign.

• Viktor Goncharenko's career as a defender at BATE was ended at the age of 25 by a knee injury, but he successfully switched to coaching, leading the club's reserves and taking the senior job in late 2007. He has since won five Belarusian titles in succession at BATE and in 2008/09 became the youngest coach in UEFA Champions League group stage history, aged 31.

Round of 16: SSC Napoli/FC Viktoria Plzeň v BATE/Fenerbahçe
• The first legs will be played on 7 March, with the returns the following Thursday, on 14 March.

• BATE and Plzeň have met before, having been pooled together in last season's UEFA Champions League group stage: the sides drew 1-1 in Prague, but Plzeň prevailed 1-0 in Minsk. Plzeň finished third in Group H, with BATE ending up fourth.