体坛英语新闻：Barca need stability, Valencia to take big step in Champions League

MADRID, Oct. 19 (Xinhua) -- FC Barcelona travel to Belarus on Monday ahead of their Champions League tie against Bate Borisov.

Bate were originally thought to be the whipping boys of the group, but the newly crowned champions of Belarus showed in their last game that they are more than that when they beat Roma 3-2 in their last group match, after taking an early 3-0 lead and Barcelona will have to play a lot better than they did in defeating Rayo Vallecano 5-2 on Saturday night in order to avoid another upset.

Although Saturday's margin of victory may appear comfortable, in fact Barca were all over the place in defense and but for Neymar who scored four goals, Luis Suarez and the work of Claudio Bravo in goal, the result could have been very different.

Bravo is likely to be rested in Belarus with Ter Stegen returning in goal, while Luis Enrique will hope that Javier Mascherano will be able to provide move control in defense.

With Andres Iniesta and Leo Messi both still injured, Munir could replace Sandro Rodriguez in attack, while Sergio Roberto could drop back to right back after another poor display from Dani Alves on Saturday.

Barca are not the only Spanish side in Champions League action on Tuesday and Valencia will hope to continue the feelgood factor in the wake of their 3-0 win at home to Malaga at the weekend when they play at home to Belgian league leaders, Gent.

The main source of controversy at Valencia is the bad relationship between striker Alvaro Negredo and coach Nuno Espiritu Santo and Negredo was left out of the Valencia squad for Saturday's win.

Valencia have won one and lost one in their group stage and the two consecutive matches against a theoretically weaker side should put them in a strong position ahead of a trip to Russia to face Zenit St Petersburg.