Champions League 2012-13: BATE Borisov and CFR Cluj

BATE Borisov, Belarus

UEFA Ranking: 55

Champions League participations: 2 (2008-09, 2011-12) - - best result - 3 points (2008-09)

Total transfer amount of all players: 20,2 mln €

The most expensive players:

Aleksandr Hleb (2,5 mln €), Renan Bressan (2,5 mln €), Vitaly Rodionov (1,8 mln  €), Marko Simic (1,4 mln €).

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CFR Cluj, Cluj-Napoca, Romania

UEFA Ranking: 69

Champions League participations: 2 (2008-09, 2010-11) - - best result - 4 points (2008-09, 2010-11)

Total transfer amount of all players: 37,3 mln €

The most expensive players: Modou Sougou (3,5 mln €), Pantelis Kapetanos (2,8 mln €), Ricardo Cadu (2 mln €), Ciprian Deac (1,9 mln €), Mario Felgueiras (1,9 mln €).

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BATE and Cluj are both provincial clubs, having taken the throne away from the capital. If in the first case Dinamo Minsk is not the Belarusian football flagman any more, Cluj, together with Unirea and Otelul, have derived the two Bucuresti teams from the title after 17 years of dominance. BATE,an abbreviation for Borisov Plant of Automotive and Tractor Electrical Equipment, is the most successful team in Belarus, taken into account the 8 domestic titles. The first one was achieved in 1999. They haven't given the title away since 2006. In the current season BATE is probably going to clinch yet another Belarusian title. The tourney is entering its final phase and the title holders are on top of the table. Cluj, named after CFR - state railway carrier of Romania, has not been considered any superpower in Romania before some massive investments, especially from the Transylvania-related neighbors Hungary, flew to Cluj-Napoca. Among others the local football team received some fresh air to breath. In result they appeared in Liga I after 28 years of absence. The Romanian season goes parallel to all the major European ones, where the season has just started. The champions are still struggling to climb the heights, but this is going to be a long journey with an unexpected endspiel, as the Romanian Liga I has become known for within the last several years.

Outside the domestic leagues the teams have been involved in couple of Champions League group stages. Both of the teams have finished in the last place at their previous attempts, but it was not the position but performance that mattered. Truly, nobody expected BATE to advance from groups, where Real Madrid and Juventus or Barcelona and Milan were present. They simply earned prestigious 2 points in matches against Juventus and a point when hosting Milan. Romania’s oldest club went even further in a match against their Italian opponent, when they defeated AS Roma at Stadio Olimpico. Right after that match they held Chelsea to a draw. During the next campaign Cluj defeated Basel and took another point from Roma. This year was not promising either, especially when the draw deprived the teams of any Italian opponents. But the start has been excellent - BATE defeated Lille and Cluj returned home from Braga with all three points earned.

Borisov is a small city in the center of Belarus. The population is not more than 180.000, so the main stadium cannot be expected to be too impressive. It has only 5402 seated places. Having not enough hotels and infrastructure for a huge tournament like Champions League, BATE’s home matches take place at Dinamo stadium in Minsk. Not the stadium, but the weather is going to be too unfriendly, when Lille visits Belarus in the 5^th matchday. Dr. Constantin Radulescu stadium in Cluj-Napoca has got a capacity of 23,500. Cluj-Napoca is a growing city with a 300.000 population, where the recent investments brought lots of interesting modern buildings.

A BATE Profile: In 1999 BATE recruited the 18 year old Alyaksandr Hleb, who was one of the most promising Belarusian players of the time. 13 years later the same club recruited the same player. In the spell of 13 years the player had managed to wear shirts of superclubs in Germany, England and Spain. Now it is time for him to tell his teammates stories about him becoming the most assisting player in Bundesliga, impressing Arsene Wenger, reaching the Champions League final with Arsenal and winning it with Barcelona. These stories are surely some of the most important artifacts within the current BATE team.  The 6-time Belarusian player of the year is actually not that old yet. Most of the players are not too far from their career peak when they are 31. Just look at his pace and vision when he was setting the second goal in the Champions League opener in Lille.

A Cluj Profile: After the first Champions League match the Braga bosses were not only upset about the home loss, but also the two scorings of Rafael Bastos, who had left the team after a conflict with the club administration in 2010. The 27 year old Brazilian has not been a regular goalscorer for Cluj, as he normally plays in the midfield. But this year seems to become the best one in his career. The long legged player has already scored 5 and assisted 4 times in the 13 matches he participated. The way he fights and joins the attacks from his left wing talks about some great technical and physical skills he possesses. Beating 4 defenders and delivering a wonderful goal to double the score in that Champions League opener, was one very typical goal by Bastos.

BATE coach: Viktor Goncharenko; having good rotation possibilities the coach tries to give a chance to take a rest to all of his players. The captain is Likhtarovich, who is often replaced by Aliakhnovich or Yurevich in this role. On the other hand there seem to be several internal problems in the team, especially after Hleb's return. Otherwise it is difficult to understand why experienced players like Bressan and Kontsevoy lose their first team places. Having the best defense in the league, BATE has only scored 1,5 goal on average, which doesn't cheer the fans. In fact, whenever Goncharenko's side plays a deeply tactical match with a main focus on the score, as it normally happens when BATE players meet rivals, points are being lost or a boring performance shown. And every time the boys get freedom, they create something extraordinary. The successful matches against outsiders in the Belarusian league or the hot favorites Lille prove this theory. So the players from Borisov will need to relax and understand that the win over Lille didn’t increase their chances to earn the right to play some European football next spring. If they succeed in this and come out to play for their joy, they might have chances to eliminate Lille from Europa League.

BATE tactics: 4-3-1-2, 4-3-2-1 or 4-4-2; Harbunou - Paliakou, Radzkou, Simic, Yurevich (Radzkou) - Likhtarovich (Sivakou), Aliakhnovich, Valadzko - Hleb (Bressan)  - Paulau (Mazaleuski), Radzionau (Vasiliuk).

Cluj coach: Ioan Andone likes to use quick players, having two physically strong players in each defensive line. Interceptions from Cadu and Muresan need to be converted into fruitful attacks. Sougou, Bastos and Kapetanos are masters in this. And there is still Juventus’s Jorge Martinez to get adjusted into Andone’s team. The Romanian champions shouldn’t be written off this season, as the first win opens a fair chance for them to advance in their fight for 2^nd and 3^rd places. If they are lucky enough, Manchester United might give a rest to his leading players in the 6^th matchday. Some points from Old Trafford would definitely not damage Cluj’s final position in this Champions League group stage. 

Cluj Tactics: 4-4-1-1, 4-4-2; Felgueiras – Pinto, Cadu (Piccolo), Rada, Camora – Muresan, Luis Alberto, Rui Pedro, Sougou - Bastos (Valente) -Kapetanos