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Portuguese giants SL Benfica host Belarussian side BATE in Group I as the group stages of the 2009-10 Europa League get underway this Thursday. Watch SL Benfica vs BATE Borisov live from your control panel at the Live Sport Network, leaders in providing streams to Europa League games.

Benfica beat Ukrainian side Vorskla Poltava 5-2 in the play-off round to reach the group stage. Angel Di Maria, Oscar Cardozo, Javier Saviola and Weldon were on target in the first leg as Benfica cruised to a 4-0 win. Although the Eagles lost the return leg in Ukraine 2-1, the margin of their win at home allowed them to progress.

Benfica followed up their 8-1 thrashing of Vitoria Setubal by beating Belenenses 4-0 on Sunday. Javier Saviola and Cardozo scored the first two goals, while Javi Garcia and Ramires chipped in with the other two. Jorge Jesus’ men have 10 points from four games in the Portuguese Liga, and are second behind Sporting Braga.

Followers of European football will remember BATE from last season’s Champions League. The Belarussian outfit gave the likes of Juventus, Zenit St.Petersburg and Real Madrid a run for their money in the group stages last year.

This season, they dropped into the Europa League after losing to Latvian side Ventspils on the away goals rule in the third qualifying round of the Champions League. They met Bulgarian side Litex in the play-off round, and lost the first leg 1-0 at home. To their credit, they recovered to hammer Litex 4-0 in Lovech in the second leg. Defender Syarhey Sasnowski scored a brace in that game.

BATE Borisov who currently lead the Belarussian league, beat Dinamo Brest in their weekend game. Will Viktor Goncharenko’s side upset Benfica on Thursday? Watch Benfica vs BATE live to find out.