Marek Bakos scored in the first half on Wednesday as Viktoria Plzen won 1-0 at BATE Borisov in a Champions League match between two teams out of contention for the knockout stages.
Bakos shot into an empty net in the 42nd minute after receiving the ball following Milan Petrzela's run into the box.
Czech Republic club Plzen and BATE of Belarus are fighting for third place in Group H for a spot in the Europa League. Plzen is third, two points ahead of winless BATE with one round left to play. Plzen hosts AC Milan and and BATE visits Barcelona on Dec. 6.
Barcelona and AC Milan, which are playing in a later match, have already advanced to the knockout phase.
''We needed this victory and we have proved that we can play such important matches,'' Plzen coach Pavel Vrba said. ''We are happy we took three points. We were better today on counterattacks.''
BATE, which is yet to win a game, had chances early in the game. Brazilian striker Renan Bressan failed to beat goalkeeper Marek Cech one-on-one in the 21st minute.
''If Bressan cannot score then we have no one else to score,'' BATE coach Viktor Goncharenko said. ''It's a good lesson for BATE.''
Maksin Bardachev also missed a chance to equalize, hitting the crossbar in the 52nd minute.
