Stellar match for Allianz Milano to close the first round. On Boxing Day, Matteo Piano and his teammates will challenge Sir Susa Vim Perugia at the PalaBarton, kick-off at 6pm.
Perugia lost the top spot in the last SuperLega Credem Banca match against Trento, but the Block Devils, winners of the last two editions of the Club World Cup, remain the main candidates for the 2023/2024 scudetto. They were also in the last season, some will say, but in a historic series of playoff quarter-finals they met Allianz Milano and it was Roberto Piazza’s team that went through with a clear 3-1 at PalaBarton last April 10th .
SIR has changed technical leadership, now there is “professor” Angelo Lorenzetti and new champions have been included in the squad, such as the Tunisian Ben Tara. In the last championship race the blue Russo also recovered, while Leon still remained in the pits, replaced by a certain Plotnytskyi. Certainly, even at Allianz Milano there is no shortage of players capable of making any opponent tremble. The Lombard team arrives on the strength of their success in the Cev Cup, confident that they can also count on all the players on the bench. Andrea Innocenzi also made his debut at center in Thessaloniki, while the recovery of Yuki Ishikawa, employed in Greece for the second line phase, continues.
Statistics and curiosities. There will be no exes on either side of the net on the pitch. The precedents between Sir Susa Vim Perugia and Allianz Milano are 26, with 20 successes for the Umbrians and 6 for the Milanese, including the last three of the 2023 playoffs. There are several players in sight of breaking records during the match, these are the main ones: Oleh Plotnytskyi is missing just one winning attack from 100 in the championship, Agustin Loser is 10 points from 100. Matteo Piano is missing 1 winning serve from 100 (he made an ace in the Cev Cup but it is not counted), Wilfredo Leon is 4 servings winners at 300. And again, Petar Dirlic is -13 points away from 1,000 in all competitions, Osniel Mergarejo at -13 points away from 500, Piano is also at -2 winning blocks at 800, Paolo Porro at -3 winning serves at 100 , Sebastian Solé with – 4 winning attacks at 1,700 and Matey Kaziyski with – 4 winning attacks at 4,800.
