Juventus coach Claudio Ranieri admits BATE Borisov stunned them after last night's 2-2 Champions League draw.

"We knew BATE would take this kind of approach, but they did surprise us with their pace, there's no point denying it. The strikers were moving constantly and the diagonal passes kept finding them," he said after the fight back from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 in Minsk.

"It was a nightmare 25 minutes and we did well not to give up. The side reacted brilliantly and the moment we managed to string a couple of passes together, we went into the area.

"Before that it was just impossible to move the ball around the way we usually do. We couldn't close them down anywhere on the pitch."

Juve risked an embarrassing defeat against the Belarus side and Ranieri insists he did his research.

"Tonight we were convinced BATE had quality and did not underestimate them, but there's no denying they did surprise us. They deserve praise, as they ran with the strength of 22 men rather than 11.

"The lads had got into the game by half-time, indeed after the first half hour. BATE surprised us and scored two goals in that period, but we emerged with determination, quality and intelligence to fight our way back into it.

"We did everything we could to win it and didn't manage by a small margin. It's a shame, as Real Madrid won away to Zenit and we wanted to catch them, but a point is better than nothing."

The results put Juve in second place on four points behind Real Madrid's six in Group H.

"We are growing and that is the important thing. Of course playing against a side that ends its season in a month and is at peak fitness really tested us."