The V. Blinov sports complex will be hosting this weekend the final four of the 2013 CEV Volleyball Champions League – Men. Russia is hosting the last act of Europe’s most prestigious club competition for the third time in history after Belgorod and Moscow were visited by the world’s Volleyball elite back in 2004 and 2007 respectively. Omsk will be not highly hospitable due to extremely low temperature (almost – 15 °C) but top European teams and fans hope to overcome this inconvenience.

 

The hosts of Lokomotiv Novosibirsk will be playing on Saturday the first semi-final versus last year’s winners of Zenit Kazan. This won’t be the first time a Russian derby highlights the semis as all-Russian affairs were registered also in 2004 (Lokomotiv-Belogorie Belgorod had played Iskra Odincovo) and 2011 (in Bolzano Zenit Kazan had first downed Dinamo Moscow in straight sets before losing the final match to the hosts of Trentino Volley).

 

Russia has got four wins since the CEV Volleyball Champions League was established in the 2000/2001 season, with Lokomotiv-Belogorie (2003 and 2004) and Zenit (2008 and 2012) having claimed the trophy twice apiece.

 

Lokomotiv Novosibirsk does not spoil its fans recently. The players of Andrei Voronkov have lost four out of seven last games in Russian Superleague. Moreover, Lokomotiv has been beaten by Zenit Kazan already three times this season and the question cannot make Novosibirsk self-confident. If Lokomotiv has a very weak balance sheet matches in recent times, Zenit Kazan is almost faultless. Zenit has won 18 games since 26th of November  (involving Champions League and Superleague) while has lost only one. Therefore, Zenit Kazan is indisputable favorite of the semi-final and the whole Final Four at all.

 

In the second semi-final Italy’s Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo – that is celebrating its first final four appearance after a long quest – will be testing the likes of Zaksa Kedzierzyn- Kozle , with the team mentored by Argentinean head coach Daniel Castellani having found its way to the final for the first time in 10 years.

 

Both teams have some stuffing issues associated with major players’ injuries. A leader of Zaksa Kedzierzyn-Kozle, Paweł Zagumny, feels a permanent knee ache. The same symptoms are showed by Jurij Gladyr (middle- blocker) while Marcin Mozdzonek, suffers from Achilles tendon pain. However, it seems that all mentioned players will be able to play. Among Bre Banca Lanutti Cuneo, Nikola Grbic has recently been passed by the flu, Wout Wijsmans has problems with his knee and Ervin N’Gapeth also is not fully healthy, but they are predicted to be on the court from the first ball action too. Hence, the very result of the semifinal may be conditioned not only by actual skills of particular players but mainly via their actual physical disposition at the time.

 

According to bookies, Zenit Kazan is the favorite of the first semifinal. In the other match, you can earn more betting a victory of Zaksa Kedzierzyk-Kozle.   

 

A press conference with the coaches and captains of the four participating teams is scheduled for Friday, March 15, at 1 pm (local time) and will be hosted at Ibis-Sibir hotel.
All matches will be broadcast live and for free by CEV and volleycountry.com partner LAOLA1.tv.

Sources: cev.lu/own news