Allianz Milano will be in Greece from yesterday where tomorrow (Thursday 21 December 2023) at the Paok Palace Sport in Thessaloniki they will face Paok for the return match of the Cev Cup valid for the round of 16. This is the last match of 2023 with Europe for coach Roberto Piazza’s team, thanks to the 3-0 gained in the first leg played last week at the PalaPirastu in Cagliari. On the other hand, the Greek team will not want to disfigure themselves in front of their fans. In Cagliari, the Macedonian coach Milenkovski played without his opposite number, the Belgian Bram Van Den Dries who is unlikely to be available again tomorrow due to the after-effects of his ankle injury. At Milan, however, the team is complete, with only Yuki Ishikawa, who returned last Sunday against Taranto for the second line, still recovering.
Kick-off at 6pm local time (or 5pm in Italy) will be refereed by the Turk Burhan Ilhan and the Bosnian Darko Savic. Milan must win two sets to ensure passage to the round. In the event of a 3-0 or 3-1 victory in Thessaloniki, they will instead go to the “golden set”, an experience that Allianz would absolutely like to avoid. In the next ten days, president Lucio Fusaro’s sextet is expected in two other tests, the last championship match on Boxing Day in Perugia, which will also define the grid for the quarter-final of the Italian Cup and the match on December 30 at Mediolanum Assago Forum against Modena.
