bate shock anderlecht in brussels published: thursday 31 july 2008, 0.15cet rsc anderlecht 1-2 fc bate borisov pavel nekhaychik's winner two minutes from the end earned the belarussian side a surprise first-leg victory.
by berend scholten
pavel nekhaychik's goal two minutes from time earned fc bate borisov a surprise victory away against rsc anderlecht – consigning the brussels side to a 2-1 loss that dealt their hopes of reaching the uefa champions league third qualifying round a major blow.
kanu debut new anderlecht coach ariël jacobs set out determined to prevent another traditionally slow start for the club, but he was forced to take on the team from belarus without injured argentinian striker nicolas frutos. that meant a debut for brazilian summer signing rubenilson dos santos da rocha – otherwise known as kanu – along with fellow new boys arnold kruiswijk and hernan losada. but it was bate forward vitali rodionov who had the game's first chance with a shot that whistled narrowly past daniel zítka's post.
wasilewski expulsion despite that omen, les mauves eventually gained the upper hand 22 minutes into the second half, when good work between losada and mbark boussoufa ended with guillaume gillet rifling in to make it 1-0. the home crowd hardly had time to celebrate, however, as two minutes later marcin wasilewski brought down nekhaychik, on for igor stasevich. as wasilewski left the field for his second bookable offence, bate drew level from the penalty spot, sergei kryvets making it 1-1. stasevich was then shown a red card on the bench but that did not stop the visitors from snatching victory in the closing moments, with nekhaychik making the difference from 20 metres after being given too much space.
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