New Delhi: A sole goal from Raul saw Real Madrid overcome their nerves and poor form, sealing qualification to the knockout stages.
Despite the freezing conditions in Minsk, Real Madrid settled into the game reasonably well and controlled early proceedings.
With Ruud van Nistelrooy out for the season recovering from a knee operation and rising star Gonzalo Higuain out injured, the stage was set for an out-of-favour Javier Saviola to make his name for los Blancos, but after good work from the lively Royston Drenthe down the left hand side, the young Argentine shinned his effort wide of goal.
Madrid were not made to wait long, however, as on seven minutes, the No. 7 and the Champions League's all-time leading goal-scorer, Raul, showed Saviola how it's done. The legendary forward, who himself is in questionable form, smashed another Drenthe cross into the roof of the net, though BATE will rue allowing the ball to travel across the area to the Madrid captain, who was stood waiting at the far post.
Gabriel Heinze's sloppy form looked like continuing when his agricultural, two-footed challenge on Sergei Kryvets earned him just a yellow card, for which he can consider himself slightly fortunate.
Gennadi Bliznyuk had half a chance for the hosts, blasting an effort comfortably wide of Iker Casillas' goal, before Saviola missed another good chance on the quarter-hour mark. This time it was Wesley Sneijder who played through 'el Conejo', who did well to lose his man before striking his effort straight at goalkeeper Sergei Veremko.
The game lacked any rhythm, but one thing that will have pleased Madrid coach Bernd Schuster is BATE's inability to ever establish a foothold in the game and create a genuine chance. It took until after the half hour mark for them to get another meaningful chance, which came when Aleksandr Volodko's throughball was latched onto by Anli Khagush, who was forced into rushing a shot that went wide.
The home fans' frustration told when they began hurling snowballs onto the pitch at Royston Drenthe - possibly a form of racial abuse - but it did little to deter the young Dutchman, who was one of the best players of the first half.
Madrid could have doubled their lead on 37 minutes, when a magnificent Sneijder free-kick was curled towards perennial aerial threat Sergio Ramos, who made a mess of the chance and it ended up going wide. Raul released Drenthe moments later, and it took an excellent intervention from Khagush to deny Madrid their second goal.
The hosts came close to levelling just before the break, when Kryvets' ball into the box was inches away from Vitali Rodionov, only for Sergio Ramos to intervene with a magnificent overhead kick to clear the danger.
The second period began a more cagey affair, with Madrid more content to sit back and hit their opponents on the break.
BATE struggled to make any inroads and began frustrating their own fans, which boiled over onto the pitch when a late Volodko challenge left Guti with a cut above his eye.
On 58 minutes, substitute Pavel Nekhaychik - who replaced Igor Stasevich at half time - fed through Rodionov, who had a clear path to goal but was snared by Madrid's offside trap.
Two minutes later, the hosts pressed again, with a poor Heinze clearance gifting Bliznyuk a shot at goal, which fizzed wide of the right post.
Madrid were down the other end within a minute and Saviola had a chance to as good as put the game beyond BATE, but contrived to hit the side-netting.
Soon the ball was back with the home side, with Rodionov again threatening. The striker first made his way past Pepe, but the Portuguese international recovered well to deflect the resulting shot away from goal.
On 72 minutes, Khagush combined well with Bliznyuk, whose curling effort went just wide and Madrid survived again.
A hard challenge from Fernando Gago on BATE substitute Mikhail Sivakov provoked a brief scuffle between the two sets of players before the referee diffused the situation, but with just 10 minutes remaining, chances were at a premium.
Sneijder put a disappointing effort wide of goal after some good build-up play from the Spanish champions, and with just three minutes of normal time remaining, Royston Drenthe selfishly slashed an effort wide of goal when he could have played in Saviola for an easy chance on goal.
Los Merengues spent the remainder of the game winding down the clock with relative comfort before the final whistle blew and qualification to the knockout rounds was sealed.
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