Barcelona vs BATE Borisov
UEFA Champions League, 2015
Date: 4th November, 2015
Kick Off: 19:45 pm BST
Venue: Camp Nou, Barcelona
Live Stream: Watch Barcelona vs BATE live
Barcelona will be looking to extend their gap at the top of the Champions League Group E table with a victory against Belarusian club Bate Borisov on Wednesday at Camp Nou.
In the corresponding fixture, Barcelona triumphed 2-0 courtesy of a brace from Ivan Rakitic.
The defending European champions have won their last seven Champions League games, and have lost only once in their last 34 home matches in the UCL.
BATE, arguably the group minnows (on paper), enjoyed their 10th successive league title at the weekend and head into this fixture on the back of an unbeaten streak of 28 away league matches.
However, Champions League is a huge platform, and it is where they’ve struggled so far, having lost their last six away games.
Having said that, BATE are still in a better position than Serie A giants Roma, who are yet to win a single game in the competition. If Roma manage to win their match against Bayer Leverkusen, the group could get very interesting.
Barcelona vs BATE Team News
Barcelona this week have been rocked by the news that Lionel Messi will be unavailable for the upcoming El clasico clash against rivals Real Madrid. Initially it was thought that the Argentine will recover in time to face Madrid, but it seems he would be out on the sidelines for few more weeks.
An except from Catalan newspaper Sport:
“Unfortunately, things have slowed up and the player still doesn’t have sufficient strength in his knee to begin running continuously. That’s to say, he doesn’t have enough time to be back in shape for the Madrid match.”
Rafinha and Douglas are also missing through injuries.
Javier Mascherano missed the league clash at the weekend through suspension. The Argentine is likely to return to first-team action on Wednesday.
BATE will be without Aliasksandr Hleb, Vitali Rodinov and Maksim Zhavnerchik through injuries.
Barcelona vs BATE Possible Line Ups
Barcelona possible starting XI: Ter Stegen, Alves, Pique, Mascherano, Alba, Iniesta, Busquests, Roberto, Munir, Suarez, Neymar
BATE possible starting XI: Chernik, Mladenovic, Mllunovic, Dubra, Polykov, Yablonski, Nlkolic, Volodko, Gordeychuk, Stasevich, Signevich
Barcelona vs BATE Key Stats
1 – BATE have won only one of their 13 away games in the Champions League
3 – Barcelona have won three matches against BATE in all competitions
12 – Barcelona have won 12 of their last 14 matches in the Champions League
Prediction: Barcelona 3-0 BATE
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