Marked for Andrei Sivakov
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad7 May 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Andrei Sivakov
23 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. BATE lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match7 May 2029
Every point is an argument now for BATE
Position 13 and 8 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Squad7 May 2029
A one-man rearguard from Danila Sokol
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad7 May 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Yuriy Kovalev and BATE agree another 2 years.
Squad7 May 2029
Tempers go at BATE
Rosmel Villaneuva was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match5 May 2029
Gomel take the points off BATE
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad30 Apr 2029
A knee injury of the worst kind for Andrei Sivakov
30 days on the estimate, and a long, private, unglamorous year of a rehabilitation nobody watches. BATE lose a footballer; he loses considerably more than a season.
Match28 Apr 2029
BATE taken apart
0‑3 to Minsk, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Market30 Apr 2029
Ilya Baranov has one foot out of the door
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around BATE they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
Squad30 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BATE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad30 Apr 2029
Yuriy Kovalev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Squad30 Apr 2029
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Luis Díaz and BATE agree another 1 years.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad23 Apr 2029
Andrei Sivakov damages knee ligaments — 38 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 38 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
A defender's goal wins it for BATE — 7.59
1 for Duje Slatina, marked 7.59, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Match21 Apr 2029
The run at home goes on for BATE
11 matches unbeaten here. Every visiting manager is asked about it in the week before, which is precisely why it keeps going.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Tempers go at BATE
Yuriy Kovalev was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad23 Apr 2029
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad23 Apr 2029
Words at BATE training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Yevhen Protasov is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
Abdulsalam Abdulsalam was on a different afternoon to everybody else
8.02. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.
Match21 Apr 2029
A 2‑2 draw with Dnepr Mogilev leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.
Player ratings23 Apr 2029
Successful dribbles: 12. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Squad16 Apr 2029
Andrei Sivakov damages knee ligaments — 47 days out
The words a physio says slowly. 47 days is what the club will announce and everybody who has heard this diagnosis before knows the number is the least of it: the knee comes back before the player does.
Squad16 Apr 2029
A one-man rearguard from Danila Sokol
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Market16 Apr 2029
The clubs have agreed terms, and what remains is formality: a medical, a photograph, a signature. Nobody at BATE is pretending he will be back in the shirt.
Squad16 Apr 2029
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at BATE this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad16 Apr 2029
Yuriy Kovalev falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
Match14 Apr 2029
Neman made BATE work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.