BATE Borisov will look to keep the pressure on leaders Bayern Munich and Valencia, when they host bottom side Lille in a Group F match of the Champions League.
BATE are currently three points behind both Valencia and Bayern, who face each other in Spain, knowing a win can keep them right in contention for a place in the knockout rounds. Lille can only qualify for the Europa League, as they are yet to pick up a single point in four games.
"Spirits are high as they always are ahead of UEFA Champions League matches," BATE manager Viktor Goncharenko said. "We cannot say that this is the biggest game of the season as we have had many of them already against Vardar, Debreceni, Hapoel Kiryat Shmona and then our first game against Lille (a 3-1 win in September). We just need to get the required result.
"Despite two consecutive defeats by Valencia, this is a tournament where you have to forget about previous results and prepare yourself for one game at a time. We have to focus on our opponents and forget about Valencia and Bayern -- we will find out their result after the match.
"We can't say that Lille are in crisis or are a wounded animal. They are a team from a top league and they have a quality squad, so I do not think there is a crisis. We usually try to play our own game in the league but it is a different story in Europe where we try to contain opponents.
"Our opponents have taken us more seriously since the wins in our opening two games but it is interesting to see what we are capable of in this situation as well."
Lile manager Rudi Garcia is still hopeful of garnering a place in the Europa League, with a third-place finish, even if they will need to win their next two matches, as well as hope BATE do not pick up a single point the rest of the way. "BATE are a strong team, as they showed when they scored three goals before halftime in Lille on matchday one," Garcia said. "We had a better second half in that game and we hope to carry on where we left off.
"We played to win from the very first game, but have failed to pick up any points. I hope to see a different result tomorrow. We are interested in getting into the Europa League -- the situation is difficult but we will try to improve it. We have to score goals and do not need to think about anything else."
To watch BATE Borisov vs Lille Live Stream, click here.
Expected lineups: BATE: Gorbunov; Polyakov, Radkov, Simic, Yurevich; Olekhnovich, Sivakov, Volodko, Baga, Hleb; Rodionov.
Lille: Landreau; Debuchy, Basa, Chedjou, Bonnart; Mavuba, Balmont, Pedretti; Kalou, Roux, Payet.
Prediction: 2-0 to BATE
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