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BATE
 Gorbunov Polyakov, Radkov, Simic, Bordachev |
BAYERN MUNICH
Neuer Lahm, Boateng, Dante, Badstuber |
BATE can be expected to make one change from the side that beat Neman Grodno 5-1 on Friday afternoon. Aliaksandr Hleb sat out the home victory, is fit to return, and will line up alongside Renan Bressan behind Vitali Rodionov, with Filip Rudzik dropping to the bench.
Elsewhere, however, they should be able to field the same line-up for the visit of the Bavarian giants, who are making their first ever trip to Belarus.
Bayern coach Jupp Heynckes, meanwhile, left Mario Mandzukic and Javi Martinez out of the starting line-up for Saturday’s 2-0 win over Werder Bremen in favour of Claudio Pizarro and Luiz Gustavo. However, both summer signings should return to the fold for the Champions League encounter.
Arjen Robben missed the trip to the Weserstadion with a muscular problem, but trained individually on Sunday. Whether he makes the trip to Belarus or not remains to be seen, but Thomas Muller and Toni Kroos should retain their places in attacking midfield.
Mario Gomez is slowly working up his fitness after his pre-season ankle surgery, as are David Alaba and Diego Contento, who both sustained broken feet before the campaign’s start.
BATE also faced Bavarian opposition in the 2002 Intertoto Cup second roud, claiming a 5-0 aggregate victory over 1860 Munich, including a 1-0 win in Germany.
- Schemer Aliaksandr Hleb (pictured, right) returned to the Borisov club this summer after an unhappy spell with Krylia Sovetov. He had previously represented Stuttgart (in two spells) and Wolfsburg, and won the Bundesliga with the Baden-Wurttemberg outfit.
- BATE have won the last six editions of the Belarusian Premier League, and recorded domestic doubles twice in that period of time.
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Bayern Munich, beaten finalists in the Champions League last season, have lost three of their last four away games in Europe, and have won just one of the last five.
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Franck Ribery scored in France’s 3-1 World Cup qualifying clash over a Belarus team that featured BATE’s Maksim Bordachev, Vitali Rodinov, Artem Radkov, Renan Bressan and Denis Polyakov in Paris on September 11. However, he is yet to score for his club this season.
- Bayern’s win over Werder Bremen over the weekend was their ninth straight victory in all competitions, equalling a club record that had stood since 1984-85.