In the first leg of the Champions League playoffs 12, Civitanova will be in Turkey to take on Izmir.

“We want to get off to a good start – said Slovenian spiker Klemen Cebulj – Winning in Turkey would be a good starting point before the return game in two weeks. We’ve been training well, extremely focused, we’re thinking one game at a time. We’re ready for this road match, which we want to win even if we know there will be a heated atmosphere there and it will be complicated. The Turkish team is extremely strong and well-balanced. We’ll need to be at our best to get a result. We’ll have to impose our game and not let them too much space to manoeuvre. We’re extremely motivated and determined to try an upset in Izmir”.

The two teams have already met in the Challenge Cup final 2011, won by the Italians. In the first leg, Civitanova had won it home 3-0 before losing 3-2 in an electrified atmosphere in Izmir.