Champions League holders Barcelona take on Belarussian champions BATE Borisov in their Champions League Group H clash at the Dinamo Stadion in Minsk.
Both sides go into the game with one point after Barcelona were held 2-2 at home by AC Milan and BATE earned a 1-1 draw at FC Viktoria Plzeň in the opening round of games.
Barca’s away record in Champions League group stages has not been good in recent seasons, with unexpected points dropped in places such as Copenhagen, Kazan and Kiev.
Boss Pep Guardiola said on arrival in Minsk on Tuesday that he expected a tough test for his team. “They are a strong rival, who have comfortably won five domestic leagues in a row,” said Guardiola. “I remember teams like this against which we have struggled to win. We have watched videos of their games and their players to get to know them.”
Home manager Viktor Goncharenko can also call upon someone who knows how to score against Barcelona in the Champions League. BATE’s summer signing Mateja Kežman was in the Chelsea team who knocked the Catalans out of the 2004/05 tournament.
Guardiola meanwhile is without Andrés Iniesta, Ibrahim Affelay and Alexis Sánchez for the game, but could hand fit again centre-half Gerard Piqué his first start of the season. Youth teamers Isaac Cuenca and Jonathan dos Santos have travelled with the squad but are unlikely to feature.
Press coverage in Spain of the game, which will be Barcelona’s 400th match in UEFA competition, has been largely dominated by an outbreak of internal politicking at the Camp Nou.
Guardiola used his press conference after Saturday’s 5-0 defeat of Atlético Madrid to say that criticism by the current club president Sandro Rosell of the previous regime lead by Joan Laporta “made him sad.”
Barca sporting director Andoni Zubizarreta said that such debates do not impact at all on the club’s players. “I do not feel it is something that would affect the team,” he said. “The dressing-room is very mature, with very experienced players who can concentrate just on the football.”
The two sides have never met before, however the Belarussians have lost all previous European encounters with teams from La Liga.
