BATE must lift to beat Milan

BATE Borisov coach Viktor Goncharenko says his players must be at their best to win their Champions League clash with AC Milan on Tuesday.

The Belarusians were beaten 2-0 in their last Group H meeting with Milan at the San Siro, but Goncharenko is confident that playing against such illustrious opponents at home will force BATE to raise their game in the return match.

“Matches against opponents like AC Milan can bring the best out of us,” Goncharenko said.

“We have analysed them thoroughly and have to get the most useful things on board. To win, even to score first, we have to keep cool heads at the back and play more aggressively in attack.”

“Milan have won three consecutive games since our first match and will no doubt be targeting another. We had a bad game in Minsk against Barcelona, but played some better football in Milan, and I want to believe we can play even better tomorrow.”

The BATE coach singled out full-back Ignazio Abate as the Serie A champions’ key player.

“If I had to pick out Milan’s three most dangerous players I would probably name their recent hat-trick heroes, (Kevin-Prince) Boateng and (Antonio) Nocerino. But I see (Ignazio) Abate as the most dangerous man with his surging runs on the wing,” he said.

“Of course, you can’t forget about Zlatan Ibrahimovic.”