Paris Saint-Germain Cannot Escape Cold, Draw BATE in Europa League Round of 32

This past Thursday night, a squad of Paris Saint-Germain fringe players finished up the club's 2010-11 UEFA Europa League group stage campaign in a minus-10 degrees Celsius deep freeze away to Karpaty Lviv.

While PSG's 1-1 draw with the Ukrainian side sealed them as unblemished Group J winners over Spanish challengers Sevilla and current German Bundesliga pacers Borussia Dortmund, Zaire-born striker Péguy Luyindula could not have been happier when the referee's final whistle blew the match done and dusted.

"I've never been so cold in my life," Luyindula told the media.

"As I said, laughing in the locker room: 'Guys, if one day we're drawn against this team again, consider that I'm already forefeit.'

"Games like this, they should not exist."

Through into Friday's knockout phase draw, PSG learned their fate would see them back into the Eastern European winter on 17 February 2011 to face reigning Belarusian Premier League champions BATE Borisov.

The icy air in Belarus surely will not be any kinder than that which PSG just experienced in the Ukraine, with average February temperatures of minus-4 degrees Celsius in Minsk.

No word yet from Luyindula as to whether he will play.

Aside from the frigid conditions, being paired up with BATE is perfect for les Parisiens.

Although they finished second in Group E, the Belarusians were far from impressive, giving up 11 goals across their six group stage fixtures to sides that lack the same offensive explosiveness as they will face against Les Rouge-et-Bleu.

The club with such a leaky defence will undoubtedly face hardship when lined up across from the likes of the in-form Nenê and potentially dominant strikers Guillaume Hoarau and Mevlüt Erdinç.

Scoring 11 goals themselves though, BATE have shown they are not easy to stop.

Of course, eight of those 11 came in Belarus, and they have not quite faced the same quality central defenders as PSG have in Zoumana Camara and Mamadou Sakho.

In the end, this writer expects a hard fought win away for les Parisiens, followed by a comfortable closing out of the tie on 24 February at Parc des Princes.

The winner moves on to face the victor of the S.L. Benfica and VfB Stuttgart match up.