From the venture in Türkiye to a home challenge of capital importance. The Cucine Lube Civitanova landed in Bologna today after the brilliant four-set victory achieved in Ankara yesterday, Wednesday, against Halkbank for the first leg of the Quarter-finals of the CEV Champions League 2024.
Having returned from the exhausting return journey, the red and whites will take a night to recover their energy while waiting to prepare the challenge with the Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza, for what could be defined as the “mother of all sporting battles” in the Regular Season . On Sunday 25 February (4pm live on Rai Sport, Volleyball TV and Radio Arancia), the Italian vice-champions will compete against the Emilian collective of Andrea Anastasi for third place in the rankings. With two rounds to go in the first phase, the two teams are tied on 37 points in the standings, but Chicco Blengini’s men are ahead thanks to 14 victories since the start of the tournament against 11 of their rivals. At the moment, Lube is third and a victory against a direct contender for the podium, which fields former chefs of the caliber of Yoandy Leal, Ricardo Lucarelli, Fabio Ricci and Robertlandy Simon, would mean acquiring the certainty of closing the Regular Season at least among the top four leaders standard with a Play Off grid in mind. Very motivated Adis Lagumdzija, who dunked for the Emilians two years ago. In the Marche group, captain Lucio De Cecco and coach Chicco Blengini spent in Piacenza volleyball, but in another club.
The favorable tradition against the Piacenza team (9 victories to 1) should not be misleading because direct clashes often ended in tie breaks and Gas Sales also came off an important European victory in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals, on the 3rd -2 at home against the Polish side of Jastrzebski Wegiel, a association that conquered Civitanova two years ago. At Lube, morale is high and the great box office response to the Predators for Sunday suggests a packed Eurosuole Forum for the occasion. The support of the fans will be fundamental.
