Luxembourg, December 9, 2019. The second leg of the pool stage in the CEV Champions League Volley 2020 - Men is set to take place at 10 venues in nine different countries across the continent from Tuesday through Thursday of this week. France’s TOURS VB will be looking for their first win over Italy’s Sir Sicoma Monini PERUGIA as the Match of the Week takes place on Wednesday in Tours.
At 20:00 local time at the Robert Grenon hall, eight-time French champions (including last two seasons) and ten-time and reigning French national cup holders TOURS VB host Sir Sicoma Monini, the current laureates of Italy’s national cup and super cup and silver medallists of their domestic championship, in a Pool D game. This will be the fifth Champions League encounter between the two sides.
Head-to-Head
• Sir Sicoma Monini PERUGIA won all four previous Champions League meetings with TOURS VB.
• In the 2014/2015 league round, Sir Sicoma Monini PERUGIA won 3-2 in Tours on November 19 and 3-0 in Perugia on January 22.
• Last season, these teams also met in the fourth round. Sir Sicoma Monini PERUGIA won 3-1 in Tours on December 19 and 3-0 in Perugia on January 30.
• TOURS VB have an 8-14 win-loss record against Italian teams in the Champions League. Their last four wins all came in five sets.
• Sir Sicoma Monini PERUGIA are unbeaten in their Champions League meetings with French opposition. Apart from their four wins against TOURS VB, they defeated CHAUMONT VB 52 HM twice in the quarterfinals of the 2018/2019 edition.
TOURS VB
• TOURS VB claimed three top-three finishes in the Champions League, the last one a silver medal in 2007. They won the competition in 2005 and finished third in 2004.
• In 2017, TOURS VB won the second-tier CEV Volleyball Cup.
• TOURS VB opened their 2019/2020 Champions League campaign with a 0-3 away defeat against Verva WARSZAWA Orlen Paliwa.
• TOURS VB could lose their opening two matches of a Champions League season for the third time, after 2012/2013 (first 2) and 2014/2015 (first 5).
• TOURS VB won only one of their last six Champions League matches, a 3-2 win against Arkas IZMIR on February 12, 2019.
• TOURS VB won their last eight Champions League matches in which they won the opening set. They lost their last six in which they lost the opening set.
• Hermans Egleskalns (11) scored the most points for TOURS VB in their opening match this season. Dmytro Teryomenko scored 10 points in that match, including three aces.
Sir Sicoma Monini PERUGIA
• Sir Sicoma Monini PERUGIA collected three Champions League podiums, all in the last three seasons. They finished runners-up in 2017, while claiming third place in both 2018 and 2019.
• Sir Sicoma Monini PERUGIA defeated Benfica LISBOA 3-1 in their opening match this season.
• Sir Sicoma Monini PERUGIA started each of their previous four Champions League campaigns with at least five consecutive victories: five in 2014/2015, six in 2016/2017, 11 in 2017/2018 and eight in 2018/2019.
• Sir Sicoma Monini PERUGIA's last four defeats in the Champions League all came against Russian teams.
• Only VC Greenyard MAASEIK's Jonas Kvalen (26) and Halkbank ANKARA's Metin Toy (26) scored more points in the pool stage opening leg this season than Wilfredo Leon Venero (23). Aleksandar Atanasijevic is in joint fifth place on 19 points.
• Wilfredo Leon Venero (9) and Oleh Plotnytskyi (5) are the only players to have scored more than three points from serves in the first leg last week.
In the other Pool D game, Portugal’s Benfica LISBOA welcome Poland’s Verva WARSZAWA Orlen Paliwa on Tuesday at 17:15 local time in Lisbon. Both Benfica and WARSZAWA are making their maiden appearance in the group stage of the CEV Champions League.
Tiago da Silva Violas, player of Benfica: “We know all the players very well. They are used to big stages, to be there when major competitions reach their climax; it is a team full of stars. If we want to handle it, we will have to be at our best and present a great game. We hope to achieve a good result at home, in front of our supporters, so that we can keep dreaming of making it to the quarterfinals. It is a very strong team in attack, block, with massive physical power, aspects that we do not deal with regularly in the national championship, so it is going to be tough.”
Last week’s surprise package, Jihostroj CESKE BUDEJOVICE of Czechia, who put away as many as 18 kill blocks to deliver a 3-2 away upset of Turkey’s Fenerbahçe HDI Sigorta ISTANBUL in the Pool A opener, will now host the reigning champions of Europe and the world Cucine Lube CIVITANOVA at 18:00 local time on Thursday. For the Italian team, which triumphed with the 2019 Club World Championship crown on Sunday, this will be the first match of their new Champions League campaign since their first-leg encounter with compatriots TRENTINO Itas was postponed to January 26.
It was the first victory for a Czech team in the men’s Champions League in five years – since Jihostroj beat Austria’s Hypo Tirol INNSBRUCK in 2015. There will be a full house as the arrival of the reigning World and European champions from Italy has produced much enthusiasm and interest among the Czech Volleyball fans. Most of the players of Jihostroj are members of their respective national teams – with Miguel Angel de Amo being the star as the Spaniard received the award for the Best Setter of the Czech Extraliga last year and was the MVP in Jihostroj’s away victory over Fenerbahce.
Filip Křesťan, player of Jihostroj CESKE BUDEJOVICE: “I do not know if there is some kind of recipe for such a great team. The fundamentals will be excellent serve, concentration in every way, assertiveness and a healthy dose of luck! Anything can happen if we put up a performance on the limits of our capabilities.”
René Dvořák, coach of Jihostroj CESKE BUDEJOVICE, who has spent 10 years with the club: “We are preparing ourselves for Cucine Lube in a standard way – just like for any other match. We are watching many videos and studying their main assets and features. However, this team is so good and complex that it is able to change the style of the game and be excellent in every possible combination they choose. It is not possible to focus on one player, as the team consists only of stars. So, we have to concentrate on our own performance.”
The team from Trento are ready to open their ninth season in Europe’s most prestigious club competition, coming back to the Champions League after missing it in 2018/2019, when they won the CEV Cup, overcoming Turkey’s Galatasaray ISTANBUL in the final. In their 125th European Cups match (85th in the Champions League), they will entertain Fenerbahçe, another big name from the Turkish megalopolis, at the BLM Group Arena on Thursday at 20:30 local time. Previously, these two teams exchanged victories (3-0, 2-3) in a 2017 CEV Cup semifinal series, which the Italian side won. This will be a special occasion for Uros Kovacevic, Europe’s 2019 Male Player of the Year and the EuroVolley 2019 Men MVP, as the Serbian outside spiker will mark his 100th official match with the TRENTINO jersey.
Angelo Lorenzetti, coach of TRENTINO Itas: “Last season we put a lot of effort into qualifying for the 2020 Champions League and now we want to enjoy this opportunity to the fullest. We know that it will not be easy, because we will face strong opponents in the pool, starting from the reigning champions from Civitanova, but also Fenerbahçe itself. To open our path to the next round, we must take maximum points from this opening match.”
Wouter ter Maat, player of Fenerbahce: “The last match was not so good. We lost 2-3. I think we can play better in Champions League and will try to prove that. We are going to give our best in the next match and will see what happens.”
İzzet Ünver, player of Fenerbahce: “We want to achieve good results in the Champions League just as we do in our national league. We could not do that in our first match and we lost badly at home, we know that. The Champions League is a hard lane. We want to go as far as we can go and we want to represent Fenerbahçe in the best possible way.”
USA international Benjamin Patch scored 17 times to lead BERLIN Recycling Volleys to a straight-set home victory over Slovenia’s ACH Volley LJUBLJANA last week, but this week’s Pool B schedule offers a much tougher challenge to the German team as they travel to Russia for a game with Fakel NOVY URENGOY. Fakel lost the all-Russian clash at Kuzbass KEMEROVO in the first leg and will be desperate to bounce back with a home win in the second. The squad from Kemerovo, conducted by Russian national team setter Igor Kobzar, on the other hand, will go for two in two as they visit ACH Volley. Both Pool B games are set to take place on Wednesday.
In a dramatic five-setter, which turned into a scoring race between Jonas Kvalen and Metin Toy (26 points each), Belgium’s VC Greenyard MAASEIK pulled off a fantastic comeback from two sets down to emerge victorious at Halkbank ANKARA last week. Now they face the challenging task to host Russian standout Zenit KAZAN, returning from the Club World Championship in Brazil with the bronze medals. Having postponed their first-leg home fixture with Poland’s JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel to January 18, Zenit are now set to play their Champions League opener at Maaseik’s Steengoed Arena on Wednesday at 20:30 local time. Zenit KAZAN will not only have to overcome the opposition of Greenyard MAASEIK, it will also have to cope with the fatigue of a gruelling transatlantic trip. After a night flight from Brazil to Paris, the Russian team will cover the remaining 450 km to Maaseik by bus on Tuesday.
Only one player from Greenyard MAASEIK has ever player against Zenit KAZAN. Just one year ago, 22-year-old opposite Lou Kindt defended the colours of Knack ROESELARE in their double Champions League encounter with the Russian powerhouse. Zenit KAZAN won both games in four sets, and Kindt scored 17 points a home and 13 points in Kazan. Four Kazan players have already played in Maaseik’s Steengoed Arena before and they almost all left the 2,600-seat arena victoriously: Tsvetan Sokolov with Halkbank ANKARA in 2015 (2-3), and with TRENTINO in 2012 (0-3); Alexander Butko with Volleyball legend Giba and Iskra ODINTSOVO in 2009 (1-3); and back in 2008, Alexey Samoylenko with Dinamo MOSCOW (2-3). Only libero Valentin Golubev lost in Maaseik with Lokomotiv NOVOSIBIRSK two years ago (3-0).
Just Dronkers, libero of VC Greenyard MAASEIK: “Of course, I am very much looking forward to playing against Zenit KAZAN. The last years they have been ‘THE’ top team in Europe but we should not think too much about their name. Especially at home, Maaseik has built up a reputation by beating teams like Zaksa KEDZIERZYN-KOZLE, PGE Skra BELCHATOW and Lokomotiv NOVOSIBIRSK. Last week in Ankara, we proved that we have a role to play in this edition of the Champions League. For me as a libero, it is an extra challenge to stand tall against the powerful services and the spikes of guys like Earvin Ngapeth, Maxim Mikhailov or Alexander Butko but I have already played against France and Russia with the Dutch national team, so I know what to expect. We will take this game as a huge challenge.”
On Wednesday, two and a half hours earlier, JASTRZEBSKI will open their eighth campaign in the competition with a game against Halkbank. This will be the first home match for their new head coach Slobodan Kovac, who worked as a head coach of Halkbank between 2016 and 2018. JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel and Halkbank meet for the fourth time. They played each other three times in the 2014 season, producing home victories in the pool stage and the Turkish side winning the semifinal in Ankara in straight sets. That season both clubs achieved their best results in the history of the competition – silver for Halkbank and bronze for JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel.
Jurii Gladyr, middle blocker of JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel: “On Wednesday, we start the Champions League season against Halkbank. We expect a strong match and, of course, we expect to win.”
Tomasz Fornal, outside spiker of JASTRZEBSKI Wegiel: “It will be my first match in the Champions League, but I should think that my approach will be like in every league match. I invite every fan of our team to that game. We will need your support and cheers.”
The two winners of the first-leg matches in Pool E will cross their ways in the second leg. On Tuesday at 20:30 local time at the Schiervelde, Knack ROESELARE entertain Zaksa KEDZIERZYN-KOZLE. The Belgian side started their campaign with a straight-set away victory over Germany’s VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN with setter Brett Walsh chosen as the MVP of the match and captain Hendrik Tuerlinckx top scoring 18 points, including three aces. Zaksa were merciless against Serbia’s Vojvodina NS Seme NOVI SAD at home in Poland. Led by Arpad Baroti with 16 points and Simone Parodi with 15, coach Nikola Grbic’s squad defeated their visitors in three sets. Knack will meet Zaksa for the third time in the Champions League. Their previous encounters took place in the 2013/2014 season, when the Belgian team won both matches by 3-1. The Champions League week will open in Novi Sad, where Vojvodina and VfB will vie for their first win, starting at 18:00 local time on Tuesday.
The match represents the real premiere in the group stage of the CEV Champions League for most of the players of Vojvodina, with the exception of Stevan Simic and Milos Nikic. The scoutman of the German team, Radomir Vemic, previously worked with Vojvodina – as a player and coach of their junior team as well. Radomir’s brother, Milos, is a former captain of Vojvodina and the fans in Novi Sad are very fond of the Vemic siblings. Radomir was the scoutman of the Serbian national team that claimed EuroVolley gold in Paris earlier this year.
Sinisa Gavrancic, head coach of Vojvodina NS Seme NOVI SAD: “VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN is a team with much experience and they currently sit in second place in the standing of the German league. There are as many as nine foreigners on their roster. We have collected much data, and I believe we can put up a good fight and achieve our first victory in Pool E.”
Nemanja Masulovic, player of Vojvodina: “Both teams lost their respective first matches and both certainly want a win, now. I think that we have our chances in the match coming up later this week. VfB FRIEDRICHSHAFEN is a good opponent, but I believe that we can achieve a victory, especially with the support of the fans.”
All Champions League games are streamed live on EuroVolleyTV.
For more info on the competition, go to the CEV Champions League Volley 2020 - Men section.
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