3-1 winners of the first leg, Giuliani’s men need two sets against Minsk in the return leg in Byelorussia to go through to the CEV Cup 16th of finals. The Byelorussians have their main strengths in the serve and block.

« We all know Minsk plays better at home – said setter Francesco Cottarelli – This is not only a tough game but we have this long trip to deal with too. More than focusing on Minsk and hoping for them to make mistakes, we’ll have to structure carefully our game. If we don’t go through, this will only be our own fault. I’m sure this will be a good game and a tight one. We will try to qualify early to avoid the Golden set ».