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Plzeň and BATE seek flying start

Newcomers FC Viktoria Plzeň and FC BATE Borisov will be determined to make a positive start after making it all the way from the second qualifying round to UEFA Champions League Group H.

Michal Ďuriš celebrates scoring for Plzeň
Michal Ďuriš celebrates scoring for Plzeň ©Getty Images

Newcomers FC Viktoria Plzeň and FC BATE Borisov will be determined to make a positive start after making it all the way from the second qualifying round to UEFA Champions League Group H.

Previous meetings
• The sides have never met in UEFA competition. Plzeň are playing Belarusian opposition for the first time, and this will be BATE's first encounter against a Czech side.

• Ten previous games have been played between sides from the two nations over the course of five two-legged ties. The Czech side has won five of those matches to the Belarusian club's three.

• The Czech sides' home record in five games against Belarusian opponents reads W3 D1 L1.

Match background
• Having failed to win a game in their first two continental campaigns – in the 1971/72 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup and the 2010/11 UEFA Europa League – Plzeň have recorded victories in all six of their European fixtures this season.

• This is the first time Plzeň have reached the group stage of a European club competition, having won the 2010/11 Czech title in their centenary year.

• Plzeň are yet to keep a clean sheet in five UEFA competition home fixtures.

• BATE are competing in the UEFA Champions League group stage for the second time. They made their debut in 2008/09, drawing home (2-2) and away (0-0) against Juventus and also recording a 1-1 draw at FC Zenit St Petersburg, although they still finished bottom of their section having lost twice to Real Madrid CF.

• BATE then qualified for the first two UEFA Europa League group stages, successfully getting through a group stage for the first time last season when they reached the round of 32 before bowing out to Paris Saint-Germain FC on away goals following 2-2 and 0-0 draws.

• Unbeaten in six games this season, winning three, BATE have gone eight European matches without losing since a 3-0 defeat at AZ Alkmaar in their final 2010/11 UEFA Europa League group stage fixture, a run comprising three wins and five draws.

• BATE are unbeaten in their last four European away games, recording a win and three draws and conceding only one goal.

Team ties
• Viktoria coach Pavel Vrba met Belarusian opponents while in charge at MŠK Žilina in 2008; the Slovakian team took on FC MTZ-RIPO Minsk (now FC Partizan Minsk) in the UEFA Cup first qualifying round. The sides drew 2-2 in Minsk but Žilina prevailed 1-0 in the return fixture. BATE's Maksim Bordachev and Artyom Kontsevoi played in both legs for MTZ-RIPO.

• BATE defender Yegor Filipenko scored Belarus's winner against the Czech Republic in the third-place play-off at this summer's UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Denmark to earn his side a berth in next summer's Olympic Games. Team-mates Dmitri Baga and Pavel Nekhaychik were also on the winning side.

• Plzeň's Martin Fillo and Daniel Kolář met BATE's Artyom Radkov and Aleksandr Pavlov when their nations met in a UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifier on 6 June 2006. Kolář scored one and set up the other in a 2-1 win for the home team.