Luxembourg, December 9, 2020. Today, the Burhan Felek Volleyball Arena in Istanbul will be hosting the much anticipated MOTW between Lokomotiv KALININGRAD Region and Eczacibasi VitrA ISTANBUL, part of the CLW Pool D Tournament taking place in Turkey this week.

After mixed results for the two teams in the first day of the competition, a win for Eczacibasi against Allianz MTV Stuttgart and a loss for Lokomotiv in their Russian battle against Dinamo Moscow, both matches lasting 5 sets, a win for any of them will be a highly welcomed morale boost before the last day of the tournament.

Today's MOTW will be streamed live on CEV's EuroVolley.TV!

First Head to Head

For Lokomotiv, this is the second season of participation in Europe's premier club competition and it is the first time they will be facing Eczacibasi, the third most experienced team in the competition currently on their 18th season, which sees them third only behind record holders VakifBank Istanbul and RC Cannes, both with 19 participations.

If history is any indicator, Eczacibasi holds an advantage over teams representing the Russian league, boasting 11 consecutive wins in the competition spanning over a decade (last loss vs Dinamo Moscow in the semis of the 2008/2009 season), while the double header that Lokomotiv had last season against VakifBank Istanbul, the top representative of the Turkish League, resulted in two losses.

With both teams having to play decisive sets in their first matches of the tournaments, Lokomotiv will hope that today's match will not go that far as Eczacibasi seems to be one of the best teams in Europe in winning decisive sets, having won each of their last five in the competition. 

If Lokomotiv Kaliningrad Region is to manage a surprising win in Istanbul, they will be needing their top scorers Margarita Kurilo (24) and Ekaterina Evdokimova (20) firing on all cylinders today as well, while for the team from Istanbul, the Serbian star Tijana Bošković is expected to once again step up to the plate and lead her team to victory. 

Andrei Voronkov, Head Coach of Lokomotiv Kaliningrad Region: “We came here just to show our maximum level. The game which we played yesterday showed us that we can play strong with these players. I think also today we will try to bring out our maximum.”

Marco Motta, Head Coach of Eczacibasi VitrA: “Against Lokomotiv Kaliningrad the bar will surely go higher. We will play against a strong team. They played a good match against Dinamo Moscow. For the Kaliningrad match today, we need to start in the way that we have finished the Stuttgart match yesterday.”

For live coverage, in depth statistics and more visit the new CEV Champions League competition website!