Luxembourg, October 1, 2020. Two teams that have been among the best in the tough Italian and Russian domestic leagues moved one step closer to qualifying for coveted spots in the Champions League 4th round with wins tonight. With extra spots available in the 4th round this year, eyes were immediately drawn to teams from Italy and Russia to fill them. Moscow and Trentino, both Champions League elite, took the opportunity in round 1, dropping no matches along the way. However, these two titans have now set themselves up to join the winner of Pool E in a 2nd round that is worthy of a Champions League semifinals.
Neftochimik BURGAS (BUL) vs Dinamo MOSCOW (RUS) 1-3 (19-25, 23-25, 32-30, 11-25)
Neftochimik BURGAS tried to stand the Russian storm throughout the game by showing eager determination to turn the tables, but in the end left the court disappointed without any chances of going into the next round of the CEV Champions League Volley Men, whereas the Russians can start celebrating their spot in the 2nd Round.
This evening, Dinamo MOSCOW won a rather balanced match, as the two, except for the last set, were often alternating the lead. The Russian victory also means that the local heroes of SK Zadruga AICH/DOB are excluded from the qualification race now.
Sam Deroo from Dinamo MOSCOW was named match MVP after a performance that saw him scoring 18 points tonight.
“Neftochimik BURGAS really gave us a hard time, so we are absolutely happy to have won this match! We are able to play against SK Zadruga AICH/DOB without any pressure tomorrow since we have now securely reached the 2nd Round with today’s hard-earned victory,” announced Dinamo MOSCOW’s head coach Konstantin Brianskii.
TRENTINO Itas (ITA) vs OK Vojvodina Seme NOVI SAD (SRB) 3-0 (25-19, 25-20, 25-18)
Thanks to the 3rd victory 3-0 during the last five days, Trentino Itas goes to the second and last preliminary round of the 2021 CEV Champions League. Tonight, at BLM Arena after having defeated the Serbian team Vojvodina Novi Sad, the gialloblù team has concluded well the first part of the operation that could lead to the qualification to the Main Phase of the most important European competition.
Today’s win, reached without any particular stress, let Giannelli and his teammates be the champions of Pool F organised in Trento and get the pass to Pool H, they will play against Dinamo Moscow (winner of Pool D) and against one among Maaseik, Amriswil and Soligorsk. During today’s match Trentino Volley showed that the players are going toward their goal with a great determination and a good continuity of play; the Serbian team could keep their opponent’s pace only during the first half of the 2nd set, then Trentino got more and more advantage serving well (7 aces, 3 scored by Nimir Abdel-Aziz) the attack was strong too and Giannelli divided the play equally among the others (58%), particularly good were the Dutch player who scored 13 points (67% during 2 ½ sets) and Dick Kooy (12 points and 59%). MVP of the match was the Brazilian Lucarelli, who showed his great skills in every fundamentals; among the players of Novi Sad the only player who scored a two-digit number was Aleksandar Blagojevic.
“This pool was a stage we could face without any particular problems and get closer to the qualification to the Main Phase of Champions League, we played well, with a good determination ad attitude,” said Trentino’s coach Angelo Lorenzetti at the end of the match. “The most difficult phase will be the second round but we know it. Tonight our attitude was really good and we always found solutions to the errors we made; we are good in attack, while we have to improve in reception.”