Roma in Champions League Group E with the Italian side in search of their away victory in the competition since 2010.
Roma drew their opening fixture against Barcelona thanks to a stunning goal from Alessandro Florenzi, while BATE lost to Bayer Leverkusen 4-1.
It will be the first clash between Roma and any Belarusian team. The hosts have met with Italian teams eight times, however they have never won against them in any European competition.
Roma coach Rudi Garcia and left-back Lucas Digne have some bad memories about their opponents, as when both were at Lille, BATE beat them in France 3-1, during the 2012/13 season. That match was the Belarusian’s first ever away win in the Champions League.
Roma arrive in Belarus following an impressive 5-1 victory against Carpi. They are now sixth in Serie A with 11 points, four shorts of joint leaders Inter and Fiorentina.
Their last match, however, has left Roma with three newly injured players. Club captain and legend Francesco Totti will be out for six weeks with a thigh injury, while Edin Dzeko and Seydou Keita suffered a right knee injury and a thigh injury respectively and both will be out for around a month.
Without both of their strikers out, it is possible that Garcia will field three wingers Iago Falque, Mohammed Salah and Gervinho as the attacking trio with one of the last two deployed as a false-9 striker. Keita’s place will be taken by club captain Daniele De Rossi, who played on Saturday as a central defender.
Morgan De Sanctis will be in goal, replacing Wojciech Szczesny who is still out with a broken finger after the clash with Barcelona. Alessandro Florenzi recovering from a thigh problem but may play, with Vasilis Torosidis available if required.
BATE have won the last nine Belarusian league titles and are en route for another success. With five matches remaining they have a twelve point lead over second placed Dinamo Minsk.
Coach Aleksandr Yermakovich has been at BATE since 2013 and has all his players available for the clash with Roma. Only former Arsenal and Barcelona player Aleksandr Hleb is still unsure of playing. He picked up a thigh injury against Bayer Leverkusen.
Form Guide: BATE Borisov (W-D-L-W-W) Roma (W-D-D-L-W)
Expected Starting XIs
Bate Borisov: Chernik, Baga, Karnitskiy, Mladenovic, Dubra, Nikolic, Aleksievich, Stasevich, Gordejchuk, Jevtic, Signevich.
Roma: De Sanctis, Torosidis, Manolas, Castan, Digne, De Rossi, Pjanic, Nainggolan, Iago, Gervinho, Salah.
