Luxembourg, November 6, 2019. The last encounter for the home matches in the second round of the CEV Champions League Volley 2020 - Men turned out to be a four-set-battle. Eventually, Mladost ZAGREB celebrated a home victory over SK Zadruga AICH/DOB. The host team withstood the pressure after losing the first set and emerged victorious in the following three, thus earning a full set of points. In all sets, except the last one, the lead changed back and forth, thus delivering a thrilling game to the spectators gathered in Dom Odbojke Bojan Stranic in Zagreb, Croatia. Two Ivans topped the list of best scorers - Raic from ZAGREB had a match-high 19 points and Kolev, who on other side of the net tallied 18 points. The return match is scheduled for next Wednesday, November 13 and will determine who will progress to Round 3. 

Mladost ZAGREB (CRO) vs. SK Zadruga AICH/DOB (AUT) 3-1 (22-25, 25-18, 25-21, 25-14)

• The opener was full of turns of events, ZAGREB led 15-12, but AICH/DOB reduced the gap and jumped to a 19-16 advantage, before closing it in their favour at 25-22.
• In the first set AICH/DOB presented a solid game, delivering only three points to their opponents by own mistakes.
• The two teams exchanged the lead back and forth in the second set as well, as they both struggled with problems in reception.
• During the third set Mladost ZAGREB managed to build an advantage (13-9), AICH/DOB reduced it to 13-12, but in the decisive moments, the hosts stepped up their efforts and did not waste their chances, taking a 2-1 lead in match.
• The hosts carried the momentum, winning easily the fourth set and taking important three points ahead of the rematch coming up next week in Klagenfurt.
• The best scorer of the game was Ivan Raic (Mladost ZAGREB) with 19 points, but it was ZAGREB's setter Petar Visic, who was named the MVP (he scored 6 points!). 16-year-old Gabrijel Cvanciger made his debut for Mladost in the Champions League in front of the home audience.

Maximilian Landfahrer, player of SK Zadruga AICH/DOB: “Mladost ZAGREB were really dominant both in block and defence today. It was extremely hard for us to score and that is why they won 3-1 in the end.”

Matjaž Hafner, head coach of SK Zadruga AICH/DOB: “I think we played a good match, especially in the first two sets, but then we did not use our chances and Mladost started to rise the level of their performance. The main problem was that our side-out was extremely poor. I think Mladost’s victory is well-deserved.”

Petar Višić, player of Mladost ZAGREB and MVP of the match: “We were not so good in the first set, but after that, we started to play more aggressively. We pushed them with our serve and block. I am happy because of this win and I hope that we will continue to perform like this.”

Radovan Malević, head coach of Mladost ZAGREB: “It was a very difficult and interesting match between a young team such as ours at Mladost and one really experienced team such as the reigning champions of Austria. We will count our total score after Wednesday – only after the re-match in Klagenfurt. We will see there if we can make it to the last of these early rounds of the Champions League.”

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