Tonight the first Champions League qualification clash between BATE Borisov and PSV Eindhoven is on the agenda. What can we expect to see and which player do we need to keep an eye on? Let’s make up the balance:
PSV Eindhoven:
PSV had a flying start of the season after winning both competition matches against respectively: FC Utrecht and Fortuna. There has been a trainer switch this year, but the new coach: Mark van Bommel was capable of keeping the team together. Although PSV is doing well in the Dutch Eredivisie, and the became last season’s champion, their European campaign over the last couple of years has been very unlucky. We have to go back almost three years for their last European win, which was against CSKA Moscow on the 8th of December in 2015 (2-1). Nevertheless they have a strong and balanced team, with some great players that should be able to make the difference.
One of the stars of the Eindhoven team is the Mexican winger: Hirving Lozano. He had a great World Championship in which he scored the only goal in the winning match against Germany and making it to the round of 16. He has already scored in both competition matches and the BATE Borisov defenders will have a difficult task of keeping him away from the goal.
BATE Borisov
BATE Borisov is the dominating team of the Belarusian Premier League, having won 12 titles in a row. They have had an excellent Champions League campaign so far, winning from the Finish team Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi (HJK) in the second qualification round, and knocking out FK Qarabağ; the Azerbaijani team in the third round. BATE Borisov has a solid team team with a strong defence, capable of producing lethal counter-attacks.
Almost always involved in these counters are the wingers Igor Stasevich and Mirko Ivanic. But also striker Nikolai Sinevich is known to be a very effective goal scorer (12 goals out of 35 matches) when receiving the ball in the right place. The Dutch defence has to make sure to block those dangerous passes through the air.
My expectations:
I think that PSV Eindhoven will try to dominate the game with some very offensive play. BATE is known to keep it very compact in the back, so it will be hard for PSV to get thought the defensive barrier. I also think we will see a counter-attacking BATE Borisov as this is the game they like to play. All in all, I think we are going to see a very interesting match. My prediction is that the game will end in a draw. Let’s say 1-1
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