The curse of the Champions League continues for Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia.
In a walled-up PalaBarton the Block Devils are unable to overturn the result of the first leg with Grupa Azoty Kędzierzyn-Koźle who immediately flies 0-2 in the set count effectively closing the dispute and going with merit to the final.
With the benches on the field from the beginning of the third set with the result now acquired, the match ends 1-3 in favor of the guests.
There is disappointment, needless to deny it, at Juventus. The Champions League was a seasonal goal and the bitterness in the mouth is clear for the fifth consecutive elimination in the European field one step away from the final.
However, Coach Anastasi and his boys will have to quickly recover morale and conviction in these few days until Easter Monday when there will be the crucial point with game 5 of the playoff quarter-finals, still at the PalaBarton, against Allianz Milano.
Simone Giannelli (Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia): “There is a lot of regret and a lot of disappointment because we weren’t able to fight as we wanted, they did better than us in the important moments. Zaksa deserved to go to the final, they played better in the two matches. Now we have to go ahead and think about the Super League”.
SIR SICOMA MONINI PERUGIA – GRUPA AZOTY KĘDZIERZYN-KOŹLE 1-3
Parziali: 23-25, 18-25, 25-19, 25-27
SIR SICOMA MONINI PERUGIA: Giannelli 2, Rychlicki 1, Russo 1, Flavio 6, Semeniuk 12, Leon 10, Colaci (libero), Piccinelli (libero), Herrera 13, Plotnytskyi 10, Ropret 1, Mengozzi 4, Solè 7. N.e.: Cardenas. All. Anastasi, vice all Valentini.
GRUPA AZOTY KĘDZIERZYN-KOŹLE: Janusz 1, Kaczmarek 5, Smith 6, Pashitskii 6, Sliwka 4, Bednorz 13, Shoji (libero), Kluth 9, Stepien 1, Wiltenburg 4, Staszewski 6, Huber 6, Zalinski 4, Banach (libero). All. Sammelvuo, vice all. Chadala.
Arbitri: Juraj Mokry – Vlastimil Kovar
LE CIFRE – PERUGIA: 14 b.s., 7 ace, 36% ric. pos., 19% ric. prf., 49% att., 11 muri. ZAKSA: 17 b.s., 5 ace, 44% ric. pos., 18% ric. prf., 49% att., 14 muri.
