28.09.2011 11:14
BATE Borisov-Barça: Did you know...
www.fcbarcelona.cat
The following are a few nuggets of trivia surrounding FC Barcelona’s first European away trip of the season.
► Barça won on their last two European road trips, 1-0 at Shakhtar Donetsk and 2-0 at
the Santiago Bernabéu, in the quarter and semi finals of last years Champions League.
► This is only the second time that BATE Borisov have appeared in the Champions League.
In the 2008/09 edition they only managed to win one point from their three home fixtures.
► But since then they have only lost only one of eleven European matches played at
home.
► BATE have played Liga clubs four times before but have lost every time (twice against
Villarreal and twice against Real Madrid).
► Mateja Kezman, who signed for BATE this summer and the injured Barça star Ibrahim
Afellay played together at PSV in Holland in the 2003/04 season.
► BATE manager Víktor Goncharenko was an international defender for Belarus until the
age of 25, when a serious knee injury meant he was forced into early retirement.
► No Champions League club managed to force as many corners as Barça on the first day
of play, although Dynamo Zagreb did manage to match their tally of eleven.
► The referee of tonights match will be Manuel Gräfe of Germany, who has never
taken charge of either side before.