No time to really enjoy a historical qualification into the Challenge Cup final for Verona, who will take on Perugia in the postponed league quarter-final Game 3. Giani’s men find themselves in a very tricky situation having lost the two opening games of the series. Perugia indeed took the opening one in Verona at the tie-break before sweeping it at home. The visitors will have a first chance to seal the series and qualify for the semi-finals, in which they’d take on the already qualified Civitanova. Verona has no choice but stay perfect from now on.
League playoffs quarter-finals Game 3
Wednesday 23 March at 8.30pm
Calzedonia Verona – Sir Safety Conad Perugia Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
League playoffs quarter-finals Game 4
Sunday 27 March at 5pm
Tonazzo Padova – DHL Modena Live on RAI Sport 1
Live streaming on www.raisport.rai.it
Sunday 27 March at 6pm
Exprivia Molfetta – Diatec Trentino Live on Lega Volley Channel
Sir Safety Conad Perugia – Calzedonia Verona Live on Lega Volley Channel
Past encounters: 17 (13-4 Perugia)
This season: 4 times – Verona won both regular season game (3-0 away then 3-2 home). Perugia won the 2 Italian Cup games (3-2 away then 3-1 home).
In the playoffs: 5 times in the quarter-finals (Perugia 4-1).
Andrea Giani (coach Calzedonia Verona): “Definitely another very difficult game. If we want to stay alive in the playoffs we have to win it. We’re up against a strong team, in great shape, they played very well in the first two games of the series. We’ll have to take our game to a higher level tomorrow if we want to win it”.
Simone Buti (Sir Safety Conad Perugia): “The two teams have experienced two totally different weeks. Verona played two Challenge Cup games, while we worked in the gym. We’ll see who made the most of the situation. They might be a little tired but they definitely won’t have lost their rhythm. But regardless of these factors, we know it’s tough to win in the PalaOlimpia arena and that we need a special performance. It won’t be easy, we saw that in Game 1, but we know we have what it takes to do well. We will play with maximum determination and we’ll have many fans coming to support us”.
