‘Barcelona’ from Kazan took Skra down a peg

Łódź is a lucky city for Zenit!

The head coach of Zenit Vladimir Alekno did not say a word during 24 hours after the defeat at home but commented that misfortune, which was the first since November, in an interview with Sport-Express. He admitted that the Polish players found weak links in the game of Zenit.

'There is not just one reason. Yes, the team did not play as it knows, and the leaders did not demonstrate what they can do, though we had a moral certainty that we would get our share of the cake in the end. I don't know whether it can be called self-assurance, but a game of nerves started in critical situations. They started to make mistakes, fortune smiled on the rival. The result is unpleasant, but nothing terrible happened. We were showed our weak sides. The goal for the return match is to return the volleyball supposed to be good or best for Zenit.

The Kazan players, who became de-facto champions of Russia, were free of games and preparing for the revenge in Poland during the whole week. In addition, they trained to the tune of a track of shouts of the stands perfectly knowing what was expected in Łódź. Skra, in turn, won Politekhinka 3:1 on the crest of the wave on 29 March when it defeated Zenit. The team takes the third position with 49 points in the Championship of Poland.

Vladimir Alekno did not say a word during 24 hours after the defeat

Łódź is the third large city in Poland after Kraków and Warszaw (population is 730,000 people), which is situated 60 km from native for Skra Bełchatów. Skra plays important matches in Łódź in Atlas Arena (capacity is 10,440 people). Lodz is a lucky city for Zenit. Now the Kazan players had six matches at Atlas Arena in total, won them all and won the most prestigious trophy of Europe twice. Tickets for the match cost 30-90 zlotys, they all were sold out during a day last week! For comparison, T-shirts of the club in an official shop make up 59-69 zlotys, a calendar – 18. The site of Skra noted only two players of Zenit in its preview for the match: Wilfredo Leon and Matthew Anderson.

According to the site of the Polish volleyball club, the head coach of the Polich club Skra Miguel Falasca pointed out a good physical shape of his team on the threshold of the return match with Zenit.

'Our players had unimportant health problems, but it is normal at this stage of the season. All players are ready to play except Michał Winiarski. We need to win two sets or a 'golden set' to be in Final Four. The chances are 50/50. We are playing against the reigning winner of the Champions League and the favourite of the current tournament. We need to play with the same spirit as we did in Kazan: to fight for every ball in every rally. We are in a good shape. In this season, we played nine tiebreaks in total and won eight of them, so that playing five-six sets is not a problem for us. We have a good fitness coach, we are well prepared and ready for the game. All elements of the game will be important. Undoubtedly, if you have a serve, there are more opportunities in block and defence.'

Tickets for the match cost 30-90 zlotys, they all were sold out during a day

And the president of the Polish club Konrad Piechocki expressed his opinion on the site of the club saying that the Kazan players were mobilized before the return match…

'Our victory in Kazan irritated the Kazan players, of course, they were mobilized. They did not use to be seriously opposed for more than a year. They rarely lost sets. The defeat on their motherland at such an important stage of the Champions League was very painful for Zenit. Now we are on the threshold of a very important for us event. We had a good result in the away match, but out victory means nothing – everything will be seen in the return match.'

The players of Zenit refused to talk to the press before the match… and rightly so.

Conclusions drawn!

At the beginning of the match, the Kazan players were obviously nervous, first of all, a Bulgarian libero Theodore Salparov, whose several mistakes in reception cost an arm and a leg for Zenit.

So, the match was absolutely close till the middle of the set. But what caught our eyes was that the Polish players failed in serve that helped the guests very much to be back in the swing. The most important thing was that the host team could not understand that Zenit changed the picture of the game very much: Skra was waiting for Leon's usual attacks, but the captain of the guests Andrey Aschev was who scored points again and again. And Anderson's serve hit the mark. Only Maksim Mikhailov did not look confident in attack but he was the person who made the score 11-16. Achev's block, 13-18. It seems that the impressing game in block of Kazan was the decisive factor for their victory. Zenit was a head and shoulder above its rival in this component of volleyball (final 2-10!). In a word, the win in the first set was about technique. And Mikhailov sealed the victory, 19-25.

The host team constantly scored more points in the second set

The second was the best for Skra. It is enough to say that the host team scored more points at beginning, 9-8. And overjoyed, they did not notice how Mikhailov, who was in the shadow of his mates in the first set, took off the cover of his 'cannon' and started to hammer. The Polish players could not do anything neither with Mikhailov nor Anderson even if they beavered away and managed to equalize their chances at one moment (17-17 by efforts Facundo Conte). As for Leon, who was gradually forgotten by the host team, also used his chances well. An ace from Mikhailov, 18-21. Aleksander Butko was in block, 18-22. Yes, we had to worry at the end, 23-24. But Mikhailov drew the line – 23-25.

An overcrowded hall in the third set sometimes kept silence and just observed an excellent game of the Russian with bitter surprise. Meanwhile, the Russians did not dally and quickly started to increase the margin. Aschev, Mikhailov – well done, 5-10. Leon's ace – 8-12. It was seen that the very host team understood that they could kiss goodbye to the final. Mass substitution in the squad of Skra changed nothing, even the favourite of the audience, the captain of the team Mariusz Wlazły was sent to the bench. Spectators welcomed the next powerful shot of Leon with silence, 12-18. The last, winning point belonged to Anderson, 19-25. The favourite took the rival down a peg… It is pleasant to state that Zenit and women's Dinamo-Kazan reached their Final Four by a margin of one day.

The last, winning point belongs to Anderson