19/11/2016 14:14
Crvena Zvezda hoping for another miracle
2017 CEV Volleyball Champions League – Men
Belgrade, Serbia, November 19, 2016. One of the first things Dragan Kobiljski told his players after the home match against Arkas IZMIR finished was: “See you at the gym, tomorrow morning at 10:30!” It was obvious he does not want his team to give in even though Crvena Zvezda lost in three sets to their Turkish opponent on Wednesday night. As they prepare for the re-match coming up on Sunday for the third round of the 2017 CEV Volleyball Champions League – Men, the Serbian champions are proud they showed their best and optimistic they can achieve even more.
“We expected everything we saw on Wednesday. We know the quality and skills of Arkas, but although we lost I can be proud because we did everything we could to stop them,” said Nikola Munćan, captain of Crvena Zvezda.
The real highlight of that match came in the second set. Crvena Zvezda played really good in defence and kept the score tight up to 21-all. “In my opinion, they easily won the first set and started to play more relaxed. We knew how to use that to our advantage and we pressured them to fight for every ball, but in the end their experience was too much to stand for us. In the most important moments, we made some errors, which shouldn’t happen in matches like this,” explained Munćan.
However, the middle blocker of Crvena Zvezda thinks his team gained some valuable experience from the first matchup against Arkas: “I think we should play more relaxed. We shouldn’t pressure ourselves going for a victory, but just enjoy the game. I expect that will help us play better than we did in Belgrade and will prevent us from making easy mistakes, which teams such as Arkas know how to punish.”
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