Italy's CoprAtlantide PIACENZA has final call tonight in Athens

2009/2010 CEV Indesit Champions League

Luxembourg, January 7, 2009. The fourth leg of the 2009/2010 CEV Indesit Champions League comes to an end tonight with the last bunch of matches on schedule. Much attention will be turned to Athens with the Italian national champions of CoprAtlantide PIACENZA desperately longing for a victory against the “green” guys of Panathinaikos to stay in contention for a spot in the Playoffs. The Italians have been going through some ups and downs also in the national league, but tonight they can only score a positive result against the hosts who – so far – have been impressing very much with their couple of away victories.
As usual all matches will be live-streamed at www.laola1.tv  
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Preview

Men

The CEV Indesit Champions League returns tonight to Almeria with Unicaja playing CSKA SOFIA of Bulgaria. The Spaniards have lost the three matches they played so far. That is the reason for the hosts to play against the Bulgarians as if it were the final match, the victory is the only way to stay alive in the CEV Indesit Champions League. On the other hand, CSKA SOFIA has notched two out of its three matches, suffering a defeat against Russian powerhouse Zenit KAZAN. “We need the victory to still have some good chances in the competition. We wish to start the New Year on the right foot. We are aware that we are in a very demanding group. In Bulgaria we were very close to the victory but the Bulgarians played better than us in the tie-break” says coach Carlos Carreño. “I hope we can take advantage of playing at home and offer a great match to our fans. We will fight hard to qualify for the next round and so we have the highest concentration for this match, we can not afford making any mistake. The team has to perform well in reception and service” concludes the Spanish mentor.

Heading into the re-match against Zenit KAZAN and after two consecutive defeats, TOURS VB of France must definitely seize the night. Indeed, three teams are very close in the provisional standings of Pool B (TOURS VB, CSKA SOFIA and Unicaja ALMERIA) and the ratio of sets or points can be decisive for determining the qualification to the Playoffs. The local Arena will be full of supporters for the local guys and also welcome the return of Russian mentor Vladimir Alekno who for 8 seasons contributed very much to the successes of the French team both as a player and as a coach. TOURS VB also keeps good memories of the two American stars of KAZAN, Lloy Ball and Clayton Stanley, as they were eventually defeated in the final match of the Champions League back in 2005 in Thessaloniki. TOURS VB, which is the current leader of the national league after 15 matches with only 2 defeats, will have to resist as much as possible to Zenit KAZAN and its incredible armada of internationals players.

In Pool E Panathinaikos ATHENS is ready to face CoprAtlantide PIACENZA of Italy. Unfortunately the year 2010 started in the wrong way for Panathinaikos. Middle blocker and captain Sotiris Pantaleon won’t be able to help his team in that crucial moment as he contracted the swine flu. Coach Stelios Kazazis will hence start the match with well-experienced blocker Akis Chatziantoniou. He says: "It is a very important game for both teams. With a victory my team can make a big step into the next phase and PIACENZA will be in an extremely difficult situation. The motivation is high for both teams”. On the other hand, the team of Angelo Lorenzetti came to Athens on Tuesday night in order to have the whole Wednesday to prepare and concentrate for the match. The Italian coach told his opinion about the match and “kept” the best words for the players of Panathinaikos. “On Thursday I expect a similar match to that of the first half of the season, we hope to play a more aggressive game without losing the first set as we did at home. The Greek team has a very good technique, it is very compact, unconventional, its leader Zagumny is a world-class player; moreover they have some additional stars like Samica with considerable international experience and outstanding younger players such as Agamez who is able to run the fate of the match at any occasion. We are not at the top, we have some problems, but our will must make up for our deficiencies” concluded Lorenzetti.

Women

In the ladies division – and namely in Pool A - ZOK RIJEKA of Croatia plays tonight the return match against Russian Universitet BELGOROD at the Dvorana Mladosti. After 3 defeats the Croatian team doesn't have very high expectations, but the hosts still hope that tonight they will be able to cope with the young Russian team and so get the first victory in this prestigious competition in front of the home fans. The Croatian girls are ready, they have not suffered any injury and they eagerly wait for the duel with the Russian team. "We are well trained and we are ready. We had a very little break for the New Year's holidays and now we start again in a standard rhythm. We analyzed the game that we played in Russia and we believe that we can ask for our chance in this game. We doesn't underestimate the Russian team. They are a great team, well covered in all positions but I hope that if we play well we should not fail to get our first win in the Champions League“ says local libero Paola Dosen.

To complete tonight’s program, another Russian team, Zarechie ODINTSOVO, will also seek for the first victory this season in a tough game against Romanian champion Metal GALATI.