Roma have qualified for the Champions League knockout stages after a goalless draw against Belarusian club BATE Borisov.

Radja Nainggolan was first to test BATE goalkeeper Sergey Chernik when his long-range shot took a deflection before being saved.

Roma continued to dominate and Juan Iturbe headed wide of the target in the 15th minute.

Miralem Pjanic was handed a great chance to break the deadlock on the half-hour mark when Iturbe was fouled by Evgeni Yablonski, but the midfielder's curling shot was diverted behind by Chernik.

Chernik came to the rescue yet again before half time, stopping Nainggolan's shot from the edge of the box to ensure that the teams remained level at half time.

The home side attacked from the restart and Edin Dzeko's shot went narrowly wide of the bottom left corner.

Then, Daniele de Rossi played in Alessandro Florenzi but Chernik's outstretched leg deflected the ball away to somehow keep the game goalless.

Mikhail Gordeichuk could have given BATE an unlikely lead in the 69th minute when he was played in behind by Aleksandr Volodko but Wojciech Szczesny made a point-blank save to deny the Belarusians.

It was back to the status quo three minutes later though, as Roma finally beat Chernik. Pjanic's shot went past the goalkeeper but Filip Mladenovic was on the line to make the clearance and bail out his goalkeeper.

Mladenovic then went up the other end but his shot was parried by Szczesny. The rebound fell to Igor Stasevich but the Polish goalkeeper was alert to stop the shot.

Nainggolan had a chance to grab a late, stoppage-time winner, but his shot flew left of the goal.

Written by
Jonathan McIntosh