'Magnificent' BATE receive laurels in Graz

FC BATE Borisov goalkeeper Aleksandr Gutor said: "My soul is singing," after the 2-0 win at SK Sturm Graz took them to the UEFA Champions League group stage for the second time in four seasons. Last week's 1-1 draw in Belarus had put Sturm in a strong position but goals from Aleksandr Volodko and Marko Simić turned the tie in BATE's favour, coach Viktor Goncharenko grateful for their experience in both this competition and the UEFA Europa League. Franco Foda admitted Sturm "deserved to lose".

Franco Foda, Sturm coach 
I knew we had to be at our best in both games. We had two decent opportunities, but failed to use them. We tried everything, but we lacked individual class. We were lacking pace and deserved to lose. You have to take your chances and be clinical at this level. Several of my players didn't play well today and we are obviously disappointed.

Imre Szabics, Sturm forward
We managed to qualify for the Europa League which was one of our goals for the season. The chance to play in the Champions League was there. I didn't have the feeling that we would be able to recover after going 2-0 down. We didn't really create any chances, only attempts from long range. We missed Roman Kienast today, but that isn't an excuse.

Viktor Goncharenko, BATE coach
It is our celebration, we deserved that. It is a fantastic achievement for our club and the country as a whole. We have become UEFA club competition group stage regulars in a very short period of time, four years. We became a more experienced side because of our regular qualifications and this experience helped us a lot during the second leg with Sturm Graz.

Tonight's performance can be described in two words – good and magnificent. After our home draw not many believed we could make it, but we did not cave and finally achieved our aim. The team were in confident mood and that made our task much easier. We fought like lions. Nobody deserves any bad words as we analysed our opponents very well and stuck to our game plan from the first and until the very last minute.

Aleksandr Volodko, BATE midfielder
We believed nothing was lost, though everybody understood what a difficult task lay ahead. In these circumstances any error can appear to be fatal. That is why we started the second leg with some caution. But in the end that was a perfect match from our side. We converted the few chances we had and achieved a great result. Our adventures in the Champions League will continue! Returning to the game I can say it was a little easier after the first goal. When Marko Simić doubled the score we got the game under control and got to a winning conclusion without any problems.

Aleksandr Gutor, BATE goalkeeper
I always dreamed about playing in the Champions League group stage. Yes, we qualified three years ago, but I was second-choice goalkeeper then. I choke thinking we could play against Manchester United, Barcelona or Real Madrid. Of course I have played against them already, but those were computer games. We did a great job, my soul is singing!