Luxembourg, March 18, 2021. The highly anticipated semi-finals of the CEV Champions League Volley Men are finally here and who better to kick things off than the most successful team in the history of the competition, the Russians from Zenit Kazan who will be hosting Poland’s Grupa Azoty KĘDZIERZYN KOŹLE at the Saint Petersburg Arena later today in the first leg of this tie.

Follow the semi-finals live on CEV’s EuroVolley.TV!

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Head to Head

Today will be the first time after 8 seasons that these two teams come face to face in the competition, their only previous meeting taking place in the 2012/13 season when Zenit won the match for third place. A lot has happened since then with Zenit dominating Europe’s premiere club competition for large stretches of time.

Neither of the two are strangers to facing opposition from the same country as today’s opponent, Zenit boasting a 24 matches- 17 wins record while Grupa Azoty  has a 9 matches – 4 wins record. At this stage of the competition, the Russians have had to fend off Polish opposition twice before, managing as many wins as they defeated PGE Skra BELCHATOW 3-2 in 2007/08 and Asseco Resovia RZESZOW 3-1 in 2015/16.

Zenit Kazan looking to extend records

Given their performances in the last decade, Zenit is the big favourite to go through to the Super Finals and if they manage to do so it would be their ninth and thus extending their own record. Being the most decorated team (6 trophies) and after taking part in each of the last five finals contested: 2014/15 (win), 2015/16 (win), 2016/17 (win), 2017/18 (win) and 2018/19 (runners-up), a Super Final without Zenit Kazan would be an absolute shocker for many volleyball fans.

• Of Zenit KAZAN's last eight Champions League defeats, five came against Polish opposition.

• Maxim Mikhailov (80) is Zenit KAZAN's leading points scorer this season. In 2019/20, Mikhailov (116) also collected the most points for the team.

• Alexander Butko (58.88%) has the best setter efficiency in this Champions League season.

Grupa Azoty looking for new heights

Despite having reached this stage of the competition 4 times previously, Grupa Azoty KĘDZIERZYN KOŹLE is hoping that this season will be the one where they take the extra step and play their first CEV Champions League Volley Final. After a thrilling encounter in the quarter-finals of the competition where they eliminated one of the favorites, Cucine Lube Civitanova, Nikola GRBIĆ’s side will be feeling confident in their chances to take on the giants from Kazan.

• Kamil Semeniuk (106) and Lukasz Kaczmarek (101) are two of five players to have reached the 100-point mark this Champions League season. Aleksander Sliwka (94) is also close to reaching 100 points.

• Benjamin Toniutti (55.56%) is among the best setters this Champions League campaign.

For more on the CEV Champions League Volley, match statistics and detailed coverage visit the official competition website!