Cucine Lube Civitanova puts the championship in the icebox and enters the CEV Champions League mode two days before the first leg of the Semi-final of the most prestigious continental club event, scheduled for Wednesday 13 March (8.30 pm) in the den of the Trentino Itas, with the return on Thursday 21 March (8.30pm) in the red and white headquarters. The obstacle is tough, the Italian champions will be facing them, but the opportunity is too tempting and Lube will show up at the “ilT daily Arena” with a knife between their teeth.
This is the ninth Champions League match against the yellow-blues. The Trento taboo in the European Semifinals needs to be dispelled. The Dolomites eliminated the Marches in three sets in the Semi-final in 2009. Same fate in the Playoffs 6 of 2012, with a home victory in the tie break for Cucinieri and redemption on their own court with a 3-0 win for the Trentino team. There was also a great disappointment in the 2016 Semifinal with Lube losing by the maximum margin. Curse broken by Lube in Playoffs 6 of 2018 with victories in four sets in Civitanova and in the tie break in Trento. Everything went smoothly in the 2020 Pool A too, thanks to Civitanova’s clear success at home and a repeat in four sets away from the Eurosuole Forum.
The Lube Volley is facing its adventure number 18 in the Champions League, the thirteenth in a row. The red and whites have won the trophy on two occasions: in 2002 in Opole, Poland, beating Olympiakos Piraeus on a tie break, and in 2019 in Berlin, defeating Zenit Kazan 3-1 and, therefore, redeeming the final lost in 2018 in Russia for a daring tie break that got out of hand in the last exchanges against hosts Kazan.
Civitanova also lost the Finals for 3rd place with Moscow (2007) and Odintsovo (2009), while winning the bronze against Resovia (2016) and Berlin (2017).
There is great regret for reaching the 2020 Semi-final without being able to take the field due to the stoppage of the tournament following the pandemic emergency.
