Following their breathtaking comeback against Italian heavyweights Napoli in the Champions League qualifying playoff, Athletic Club Bilbao have been drawn in an unpredictable but winnable group. Drawn into Group H, they managed to avoid the biggest names in the tournament and have found themselves up against FC Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk and BATE Borisov.
Former Champions Porto won their place in the group stage through beating French side Lille 3-0 across two legs, with dangerman Jackson Martinez scoring in the second leg on Tuesday. With 62 goals in 94 appearances for Porto since joining the club in the summer of 2012, Martinez is a forward who has attracted attention from big clubs across Europe - he has recently been touted as a potential replacement for Mario Balotelli in AC Milan, with many Colombians currently thriving in Serie A. However, his scoring record in Europe is less than one in three - but Athletic will have to keep a close eye on Martinez if they are to get through to the next stage. With plenty of European experience in their ranks mixed in with a host of young talents hungry to make their mark, Porto pose Athletic's biggest threat to further progress.
Shakhtar caused something of a stir in their Champions League adventure last year, giving Manchester United an almighty scare in a 1-1 draw and beating Athletic's compatriots Real Sociedad at home and away. Now, though, there is a very different picture. Due to the crisis in Ukraine, many of the players' futures - especially their imported stars, such as Bernard and Fernando, linked with Fiorentina - are uncertain, and just a few days ago the club's Donbass Arena was damaged by explosions. With the club playing their home games 600 miles to the West of Donetsk in Lviv, the unrest is unlikely to be conducive to a European cup run despite a talented squad.
Having scraped past Skënderbeu, Debrecen and Slovan Bratislava to get this far, Belarusian giants - in relative terms - BATE Borisov are the rank outsiders in this group, a position they have become accustomed to occupying. It is also a position which has brought them some success in the past - in 2012, they beat eventual champions Bayern Munich 3-1 at home in the group stage though they were eliminated at the qualifying stage by Shakter Karagandy of Kazakhstan last year. Despite having been crowned champions of Belarus eight times since their formation in 1973, relatively little is known about them, though 30-year-old forward Vitali Rodionov is their main goal threat having topped the goalscoring charts in the league last year. For anyone still wondering - BATE stands for Borisov Works of Automobile and Tractor Electric Equipment.
The biggest weapon Athletic's all-Basque squad have at their disposal is arguably the new San Mamés Stadium, recently rebuilt as a 53,000-capacity fortress. Their vociferous home support played a huge role in their comeback victory over Napoli, and there are few teams who would relish the opportunity to play there if the home side are on-song. Ernesto Valverde is a shrewd manager, and he knows how to get the best out of his committed squad - they should not be taken lightly.