Luxembourg, December 16, 2019. The first half of the pool stage in the CEV Champions League Volley 2020 - Women is about to be completed as the ten matches of the third leg are played this week in seven different countries across Europe. In Tuesday’s latest game, selected as Match of the Week, France’s RC CANNES and Russia’s Dinamo MOSCOW will battle it out to stay undefeated on top of the current standings in Pool E.
Inspired by the efficient spiking effort of fabulous middle blocker Mira Todorova, the French champions defeated Bulgaria’s Maritza PLOVDIV at home in the first leg and upset Uralochka-NTMK EKATERINBURG in Russia in the second. Dinamo won the all-Russian clash with Uralochka and then travelled to Plovdiv for their second win of the season, as world-class opposite Nataliya Goncharova contributed a combined total of 52 points. As the two sides meet on Tuesday, at 20:00 local time, at Palais des Victoires in Cannes, one of them is bound to concede their first defeat, while the other remains unbeaten.
Head-to-Head
• RC CANNES and Dinamo MOSCOW met in the 2006/2007 Champions League pool phase, their only previous encounters in the competition.
• Dinamo MOSCOW won both of those Champions League matches, 3-0 in Cannes on December 12, 2006 and 3-1 in Moscow on December 19, 2006.
• RC CANNES have won 11 of their 16 Champions League matches against teams from Russia, including a 3-2 win at Uralochka-NTMK EKATERINBURG in the previous leg (November 27).
• RC CANNES also defeated Uralochka-NTMK in the 2002/2003 Champions League final (3-1), collecting their second and to date latest title in the competition.
• Dinamo MOSCOW are undefeated in their Champions League matches against French opposition. Apart from their two wins over RC CANNES, they won twice 3-0 over Rocheville LE CANNET in the 2015/2016 pool phase.
RC CANNES
• RC CANNES won the Champions League twice, in 2001/2002 and in 2002/2003. Only Turkey’s VakifBank ISTANBUL (4) and Italy’s Volley BERGAMO (4) have won the Champions League more than twice.
• RC CANNES also finished runners-up twice (2005/2006, 2011/2012) and collected two third places (2003/2004, 2009/2010). Only VakifBank (8) and Volley BERGAMO (7) claimed more top-three finishes than RC CANNES (6).
• RC CANNES are participating in their 19th Champions League campaign, most of all teams. They only missed out on the 2017/2018 season.
• Only VakifBank (125) have won more Champions League matches than RC CANNES (98). Turkey’s Eczacibasi VitrA ISTANBUL follow next on 97 Champions League wins.
• RC CANNES won their opening two matches of this Champions League campaign, 3-1 over Maritza PLOVDIV and 3-2 over Uralochka-NTMK EKATERINBURG. They have not won their first three matches of a Champions League season since 2014/2015.
• The last time RC CANNES won three successive Champions League matches was from January to November 2016, when they won their last match of 2015/2016 and the first two of 2016/2017.
• Nadiia Kodola (44) has scored the most points for RC CANNES in this Champions League campaign this far.
• Only Germany’s Allianz MTV STUTTGART's Martina Samadan (9) and Poland’s ŁKS Commercecon ŁÓDŹ's Joanna Pacak (9) have won more points from stuff blocks in the fourth round than RC CANNES’ Myriam Kloster (8).
Dinamo MOSCOW
• Dinamo MOSCOW's best result in the Champions League are two runner-up finishes, in 2006/2007 and 2008/2009.
• Dinamo MOSCOW won the Champions Cup, predecessor of the Champions League, a record 11 times, but not since the 1976/1977 campaign.
• Dinamo MOSCOW are the only team to have appeared in each of the last 14 Champions League seasons (since 2006/2007).
• Dinamo MOSCOW won their first two matches of this Champions League season, 3-1 over Uralochka-NTMK EKATERINBURG and 3-1 over Maritza PLOVDIV. The last time they won their opening three matches of a Champions League campaign was in 2016/2017, when they won their first eight.
• Dinamo MOSCOW lost only one of their last nine Champions League matches, a 0-3 defeat against VakifBank ISTANBUL in last season's quarterfinals.
• Only VakifBank (22) have won more five-setters in the Champions League than Dinamo MOSCOW (16).
• Nataliya Goncharova has scored 52 points for Dinamo MOSCOW this Champions League season. Only Allianz MTV STUTTGART's Krystal Rivers (54) has collected more points in the fourth round of this campaign.
• Only Allianz MTV STUTTGART's Martina Samadan (9) and ŁKS Commercecon ŁÓDŹ's Joanna Pacak (9) have won more points from stuff blocks in the fourth round than Dinamo’s Irina Fetisova (8).
Riccardo Marchesi, head coach of RC CANNES: “Our next opponent, Dinamo MOSCOW, is undoubtedly a high-level European club, which has made Volleyball history many times. Their roster includes many top players. Our girls will face a big, yet very interesting challenge. They will have the opportunity to measure their level against a European benchmark. As we won our first two matches in this Champions League campaign, including the one with Uralochka, the team coached by the legendary Nikolai Karpol, we know that we can do something against Dinamo MOSCOW as well, who have two wins to their name too. Our team is working well in practice, showing very interesting technical combinations; it is building up and mentally, it is getting stronger week after week.”
Nadiia Kodola, player of RC CANNES: “I know Dinamo MOSCOW pretty well, as we played against them in the CEV Champions League last year with my former team, C.S.M. BUCURESTI. They have very strong players, like Nataliya Goncharova, with whom I played several years ago in the Ukrainian national team, and who is able to hit the ball from any position. We do not have such super stars, but if we play as a team, and use our speed, for sure we can achieve something. It is sport, anything can happen. They are not unbeatable, as they lost to Uralochka in the Russian Superleague. We definitely will not enter the court thinking that we have no chance to win.”
The other two teams in the pool, Uralochka and Maritza, will play on Thursday at 19:00 local time in Ekaterinburg to battle it out for their first win of the season. Both sides are leaders in their domestic leagues after long winning streaks.
Mikhail Karpol, assistant coach of Uralochka-NTMK EKATERINBURG: “We are not burdening our heads with variations and calculations. It is important that our team is in good playing tone and decent physical condition.”
Tatiana Romanova, setter of Uralochka-NTMK EKATERINBURG: “The Bulgarian team plays fast, aggressive Volleyball, so we expect a difficult match. In a tournament like the Champions League, you have to play to the best of your ability in every game. We are preparing very seriously; we want to please our fans.”
Desislava Nikolova, outside spiker of Maritza PLOVDIV: “As we are approaching the important match with Uralochka, all our girls are feeling well and have a positive mindset. I hope we will deliver a very good game. We are a great group, we are always together even outside the hall and I think this helps our team spirit on the court a lot.”
Turkey’s Eczacibasi VitrA ISTANBUL will try to snatch their third victory in Pool A as they travel to Poland for Wednesday’s match with Budowlani ŁÓDŹ. After their second-leg win at Finland’s LP SALO, Tijana Boskovic and her teammates took part in the 2019 FIVB Club World Championship and returned from China with the silver medals and with libero Simge Sebnem Aköz and outside spiker Kim Yeon-Koung on the Dream Team. Budowlani suffered their first loss of the season when they visited the other Turkish powerhouse in the pool, Fenerbahce Opet ISTANBUL. The game in Lodz is at 18:00 local time. At the exact same time, 19:00 local in Salo, the winless Finnish team will entertain Fenerbahce.
Brankica Mihajlovic, player of Fenerbahce: “We are going to Finland. It will be an important match for the final standing in the group. We are hoping for a good performance and we want to show our best game.”
Bahar Toksoy Guidetti, player of Fenerbahce: “We are finishing 2019 with a Champions League match. It is a tough away match and we have a long journey ahead of us. I believe that we will come back with three points. It is an important match for our position in the group. We want to win so that we can start the second half of the competition even stronger.”
An interesting clash is shaping up in Pool B, where Lokomotiv KALININGRAD Region welcome VakifBank ISTANBUL on Tuesday at 19:00 local time. Each of the two teams is on a 1-1 win-loss record after losing to Italy’s Savino Del Bene SCANDICCI and defeating Slovenia’s Nova KBM Branik MARIBOR. VakifBank also went to Shaoxing for the Club World Championship, but returned with mixed feelings – from winning prestigious bronze, but losing the world crown they won at the previous two editions. How that has affected the confidence of Dream Teamers Zehra Güneş and Isabelle Haak and their teammates from VakifBank remains to be seen. Savino Del Bene look set to add the third victory to their record as they host Nova KBM Branik on Wednesday at 20:30 local time in Siena, the day their Brazilian middle blocker Adenizia Ferreira da Silva celebrates her 33rd birthday.
Marco Nazzareno Mencarelli, head coach of Savino Del Bene SCANDICCI: “Branik are a good team, but we have to win because all the games are very important for the final pool standings.”
Can reigning European champs Igor Gorgonzola NOVARA recover from last leg’s defeat they suffered at the hands of Allianz MTV STUTTGART in Germany? The Italian side returned from the Club World Championship without a medal and obviously have a lot to make up for as they visit Poland’s ŁKS Commercecon ŁÓDŹ at 18:00 local time on Tuesday. Commercecon’s Joanna Pacak co-leads the competition blockers (together with Allianz’s Martina Samadan) with nine stuffs to her name and wouldn’t mind helping her squad earn their third victory to stay unbeaten on top of Pool C by raising a wall in front of Igor Gorgonzola’s spikes. This will be the first encounter between Commercecon and Igor Gorgonzola. The Italian team have visited Lodz before, for a 3-0 win over the other team from the city, Budowlani. Igor Gorgonzola’s Stefana Veljkovic will not travel due to an injury. 16-year-old Bianca Orlandi will take her place on the squad.
Izabela Kowalinska, outside spiker of ŁKS Commercecon ŁÓDŹ: "There is a very difficult match ahead of us, with a world-class opponent. However, we will play in front of our own fans and this will be our last match this year. We want to show our best game, play our Volleyball and maybe even surprise the Italians.”
Tournament’s top scorer so far Krystal Rivers (54 points) will try to help Allianz build upon their surprising win with another one at Khimik YUZHNY in the week’s opener on Tuesday, but the Ukrainian side will be desperate to take their first win in the pool. The German team will make their first ever Champions League trip to Ukraine after an important domestic success. Last Wednesday, Allianz won their five-set semifinal with SSC Palmberg SCHWERIN to advance to their sixth national cup final.
Yevgen Nikolayev, head coach of Khimik YUZHNY: “I do not see anything surprising in the victory of the German team over NOVARA. STUTTGART played with great desire to win. Moreover, they have a good team, their roster includes as many as four American players, and the team has experience from last season’s Champions League. STUTTGART is not only Krystal Rivers, since the German team has good middle blockers and other players too. We spent the last week focussing solely on preparing for this most important match. For example, in the last matches of the national championship, we tried to simulate the opponent’s game and worked accordingly.”
Kateryna Frolova, player of Khimik YUZHNY: “This match is a very difficult one, especially from a psychological standpoint, because STUTTGART were able to beat NOVARA – to whom we lost badly. People should not forget that Khimik is the only club playing in the Champions League without foreign players, and of course, it is more difficult for us than other teams, but despite this, we always go for a victory. We have motivation and high ambitions and, in the end, we have the fans who helped us a lot in our previous matches. We are not going to give up. We really want to win and prove that we deserve our spot in the group stage of the Champions League.”
Krystal Rivers, captain of Allianz MTV STUTTGART: “We won our last match against NOVARA much due to our character and collective effort. However, I do not think that we are the favourites in Pool C. We will fight for the victory in every match and we will see where this is going to take us. We expect a hard battle in Yuzhny and we will try to show our best side to achieve another victory.”
Ioannis Athanasopoulos, head coach of Allianz MTV STUTTGART: “Khimik play a totally different style of Volleyball. I would say it is the old traditional Soviet style. We have to get used to it very fast. They played a very good match against ŁKS Commercecon, so we are warned about their fighting spirit.”
Kim Oszvald-Renkema, sports director of Allianz MTV STUTTGART: “We have to focus at 100% to earn those three points and take them home with us. It is our last Champions League match in 2019 and we want to keep our odds to reach the quarterfinals very high. I am sure we are going to see an exciting match.”
A direct battle for the top of the standings will take place in Pool D as the two undefeated teams, NANTES VB and A. Carraro Imoco CONEGLIANO, come face to face at the Mangin Beaulieu in France at 19:30 local time on Tuesday evening. NANTES VB may have the home court advantage, but the Italians arrive as the newly crowned club world champions, led by Shaoxing 2019 MVP Paola Egonu and Dream Teamers Joanna Wolosz, Robin de Kruijf and Kimberly Hill, with the confidence and the responsibilities of the heavy favourites in the match. However, they will not rely on the services of Miriam Sylla and Raphaela Folie, who are recovering from injuries.
Daniele Santarelli, head coach of A. Carraro Imoco CONEGLIANO: “We are in a good moment and we are going to Nantes for a very tough match against a team that is physically strong and very competitive at this level. It is a pivotal game in the pool because whoever wins has excellent chances to finish first. We will have to play our best game in Nantes to win.”
The competition week in the women’s Champions League will close with the other fixture in Pool D, Vasas Óbuda BUDAPEST of Hungary against C.S.M. Volei Alba BLAJ of Romania, on Thursday at 19:00 local time in the Hungarian capital. The visitors from Romania are the favourites of the game despite having suffered two setbacks in a row this far, but Vasas will try to put up a fight in what is their last match of the calendar year.
Lilla Villám, Vasas Óbuda’s opposite: “Defence and attack will be extremely important and we also have to pay special attention to their best player. If we can fight together and give our best on the court, we might have a chance to celebrate our first win in the Champions League group stage!”
All Champions League games are streamed live on EuroVolleyTV.
For more info on the competition, go to the CEV Champions League Volley 2020 - Women section.
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