Berlin (Germany), 24 February 2021

Champions League, on Thursday in Germany (at 19.30) the first round of the quarterfinals

The quarterfinals of 2021 CEV Champions League begin. After two preliminary rounds and the Main Phase, the biggest continental competition per club continues with the first (of two) double act that will take to the Final of the first May (location yet to be defined). For Trentino Itas, there will be room for the match with the Germans of Berlin Recycling Volleys; the first match will be played on Thursday 25 February in Germany. The kickoff is scheduled at 19.30 at the Max Schmeling Halle in Berlin; live on Radio Dolomiti and www.eurovolley.tv .
HERE TRENTINO ITAS Two weeks after the last official match, won by 3-1 with Karlovarsko in Germany, the gialloblù formation is ready to return on the field and start the fourth phase of its European run, the one where the error margin will become tinier.
“We face an important double task for our season, because we care much about this competition – said the coach Angelo Lorenzetti - . We will play within a week two matches with a historic Company like Berlin, which in the past did some good surprises in the championship, so it should be respected. It has a numerous team and many skilled players; all this makes it more difficult knowing what team it will use. All the more reason it will be essential to have a clear idea of the game concept we would like to propose, and then modulate it based on the opponent we will face”.
Trentino Itas will arrive at the appointment with the seasonal invincibility in the competition, in which it has won nine matches on the field (ten taking into account also the forfeit of Friedrichshafen on 11 February) between preliminary phases and Pool E. The team arrived in the late evening of Tuesday in Berlin and at 19 of today it will train in the arena. In Germany, Lorenzetti has taken with him fourteen players; in addition to the thirteen of the official team, there is also the young spiker of the UniTrento Volley of Serie A3 Alberto Pol, who will wear the jersey of the second libero. Carlo De Angelis will be used as fifth spiker, with the possibility of entering in the match to help in reception in place of one of the four official players.
THE NUMBERS OF TRENTINO VOLLEY IN EUROPE In the previous nine participation at the Champions League, Trentino Volley had always succeeded in entering the final ranking of the competition, qualifying for the quarterfinals in eight cases. The only time that it didn’t succeed was during the 2013 edition, when it was eliminated by Dinamo Mosca at the Golden Set. In five cases out of eight, the gialloblù team had passed the quarterfinals, going to the semifinals: 2009, 2010, 2011 editions (all ended with the final victory of the trophy) 2012 (third place) and 2016 (second place). Considering all European matches, Trentino Volley has played 139th official competitions: winning 113 times (57 in Trento, 56 on away field), being defeated 26 times (20 in Champions League, 5 in CEV, and 1 in Top Teams Cup). The most frequent result was 3-0 in 49,6% of the cases (69 matches, 40 of them at home); the less frequent one was the defeat by 0-3 (five times).
FOURTH AWAY GAME IN GERMANY This is the fourth away game ever in Germany in the history of Trentino Volley. The last precedent in this nation was two weeks ago, between 9 and 10 February, when the entire second round of Pool E was played in Friedrichshafen. The first gialloblù match in German land was always near Lake Constance: on 12 January 2011 for a match of the Pool phase, lost at the tie break against the hosts. Trentino Volley had already played on 18 December 2013 in Berlin, losing in three sets a match valid for the Main Phase.
THE OPPONENTS With Friedrichshafen that had to forfeit in the second round of Main Phase, Berlin Recycling Volley has the task to represent Germany in the final phase of 2021 CEV Champions League. The main team of the capital has qualified thanks to the second place in Pool C; to be part of the eight best teams in Europe and the victory of its second Super Cup ever (won in October by beating Frankfurt 3-0 at the Final) are certainly the most profitable results of a season also characterized by the elimination already in the quarterfinals of the German Cup (in which it participated as a defending champion). In Bundesliga it occupies the second place in the ranking, with two points behind the top team Friedrichshafen, which played three matches less. In the palmarès of the Germans, there are ten German titles (the last won in 2019), five National Cups, and one CEV Cup, won in 2016 when it was coached by Roberto Serniotti. In Champions League the best result ever is the third place in the 2015 season, when it organized at home the Final Four. The team coached by the French Enard has very famous names in the field of international volleyball: the opposite spiker is the American Patch (already in Vibo), the setters are the Russian Grankin (former Dinamo Mosca) and the French Pujol (former Lube and Treviso), but transalpine are also the spikers Tuia and Carle (last year in Vibo); the middle blockers are Brazilians players: Renan Michelucci and the former Eder Carbonera, in Trento in the 2017/18 season (48 attendances, 363 points). In the team there is also the spiker Kaliberda, former Vibo, Macerata, Modena, and Perugia. The team of Berlin Recycling Volleys: 1. Adam Kowalski (l), 2. Kevin Le Roux (c), 3. Davy Silva Moraes (o), 4. Sebastian Kuehner (p), 5. Renan Michelucci Moralez (c), 6. Sergey Grankin (p), 7. Robin Baghdady (s), 8. Anton Brehme (c), 9. Timothée Carle (s), 10. Julian Zenger (l), 11. Cody Kessel (s), 12. Samuele Tuia (s), 13. Bejamin Patch (o), 14. Denys Viktorovic Kaliberda (s), 16. Eder Carbonera (c), 18. Pierre Pujol (s). Coach. Cedric Enard. 
THE FORMULA AND THE OTHER MATCHES The match of Thursday is valid as first round of the quarterfinals of 2021 CEV Champions League; in the first round of the final ranking, the best eight teams of Europe will face each other in a double confrontation, from which it will be chosen the four team that will play in the semifinals (another double confrontation, scheduled in the second half of March). The teams that will win both matches will pass the round; only if the two teams have won a match each at the tie break or in case both have won a match each in a maximum of four sets, it will be played the Golden set at 15 at the end of the second game. The other three matches of the quarterfinals: Modena-Perugia (3-0, played yesterday), Belchatow-Kazan (tonight) and Kedzierzyn-Kozle-Civitanova (tonight).
THE PRECEDENTS In archive, Trentino Volley and Berlin Recycling Volley have only two official precedents, both of the 2014 edition of CEV Champions League. In that competition, the two Companies faced each other in Pool D (then won by Trento): the gialloblù won by 3-1 (25-20, 19-25, 29-27, 25-21) at the BLM Group Arena (at that time still named PalaTrento) on 24 October 2013, dragged by Sokolov (23 points); the Germans got even in the home match on 18 December 2013, winning in three sets (16-25, 18-25, 19-25), where Lisinac (12 points) imposed himself, at that time the Germans strong point.
THE REFEREES The match will be directed by the Hungarian Laszlo Adler, first referee of Budapest, and the German Jorg Kellenberg, second referee of Stuttgart. The only one who has precedents with Trentino Volley is the Hungarian, who directed Dinamo Mosca-Trento 1-3 of 11 April 2015 (final of CEV Cup lost at the golden set), Trento-Fenerbahce 3-2 of 12 December 2019 and, during this season, Novosibirsk-Trento 0-3 of 9 February 2021 and Karlovarsko-Trento 1-3 on 10 February 2021 in Friedrichshafen.
RADIO AND INTERNET The match will have a full and live coverage by Radio Dolomiti, network partner of Trentino Volley. The frequencies can be found on www.radiodolomiti.com, where it will be possible to listen to the radio commentary in streaming.
There will also be the broadcast in streaming video on “EuroVolleyTv” at www.eurovolley.tv (paid service). For info on the packages offered www.eurovolley.tv/en-int/page/pricing-and-faq.
The tv catch-up will be broadcast on Thursday 25 February at 23 by Sky Sport Arena, channel on the Sky satellite platform and on every device with "SkyGo" (paid service).
On Internet, to follow the points-to-points updates, there is the official website of CEV at https://cevlive.cev.eu/DV_LiveScore.aspx?ID=40511, which will have the live score, or the one of Trentino Volley www.trentinovolley.it, which will also offer the set-by-set coverage after the end of every partial. The updates will also be on the gialloblù Social Network (www.trentinovolley.it/facebook, www.trentinovolley.it/instagram and www.trentinovolley.it/twitter).

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office