BATE ready for real thing from Everton

Having led his Tottenham Hostpur FC team to virtual victories against Everton FC, midfielder Sergei Krivets will attempt to beat the real-life Toffeemen with FC BATE Borisov.

Gaming
A video-game fan, the 23-year-old Belarussian international has been testing himself against a pixilated form of David Moyes's Premier League side – and would like the genuine article to be as straightforward in UEFA Europa League Group I on Thursday. Asked if he had ever played as Everton, he replied: "No, I prefer Tottenham, and I have beaten Everton a couple of times."

Winless
BATE coach Viktor Goncharenko will hope that augurs well for Belarus's champions, who are still chasing a first success at their temporary European home – Minsk's Dinamo Stadium. A 2-2 draw with Juventus in last season's UEFA Champions League was their solitary point from three group-stage matches at the venue. The coach, though, remains optimistic. "We are in good spirits," said Goncharenko, whose team have won their last four league games but lost 2-0 at SL Benfica on Matchday 1. "We are on a roll and that will help us to recover from Benfica. We can't wait to get started against Everton."

Emerging force
The 32-year-old told reporters that Everton "are a strong and powerful team", particularly from "long balls and set-pieces", but felt that Europe would continue to bring the best out of BATE. "I was surprised how quickly we adjusted to the pace last year," he added. "Hopefully we can play that fast again. We are ready." Nor has the Borisov club's emergence on the European scene escaped the Everton manager, David Moyes. "We know as much as we possibly can about BATE," he said in his press conference. "We were very impressed by them in the Champions League. We also watched them against Benfica, and we've tried to get bits of games from Belarus."

'Respect'
Moyes, who also made the point of wishing his young counterpart Goncharenko well in his coaching career, went on: "I've got a lot of respect for BATE and how they are progressing. It will be a very difficult game but one which, hopefully, we can get through. We would like to qualify. Two years ago we got to the last 16, when we played Fiorentina and lost on penalties, so we've always tried to do the best we can in this competition." The Liverpool club, 4-0 victors against AEK Athens FC on 17 September, have two new injury absentees in midfielders Steven Pienaar and Jack Rodwell.