NEWS

Zenit KAZAN and Cucine Lube CIVITANOVA will be playing the CEV Champions League Volley 2019 Super Final in Berlin on May 18 after emerging victorious from their respective semi-finals.

It will be a repeat of last year’s gold medal match with Zenit KAZAN vying for their fifth title in a row – and seventh overall – while Lube will be aiming at their first such crown since seizing the title back in 2002. Zenit edged Sir Colussi Sicoma PERUGIA again, this time by 3-1, while Lube were merciless in their home matchup with Poland’s PGE Skra BELCHATOW (3-0).

•    Zenit KAZAN were the first team to qualify for the Super Final following their 3-1 home victory over Sir Colussi Sicoma PERUGIA.
•    Despite an ankle injury he suffered in the early stages of the match, 2012 Olympic champion Alexander Butko delivered a very solid performance to lead his team to a fifth straight #CLVolleyM gold medal match.
•    Wilfredo Leon returned to play in Kazan for the first time since leaving Zenit at the end of the 2017-2018 season – but his effort was not enough to help PERUGIA come back from their 2-3 setback at home last week.
•    Cucine Lube CIVITANOVA qualified for the Super Final in emphatic style – through a second 3-0 victory in as many matches with PGE Skra BELCHATOW.
•    Osmany Juantorena and Yoandy Leal were the pace setters for Lube, who are the only team not to have suffered a single loss in this year’s Champions League.
•    Zenit KAZAN and Lube will lock horns for the second time this season – as the ‘big match’ in Berlin will be a repeat of the game these teams played at the Club World Championship back in December – which Lube won 3-2.
•    Zenit KAZAN will be going for an all-time fifth straight and seventh overall title to stretch Russia’s supremacy in the competition, which has been lasting since 2012.
•    Lube will try to become the first Italian team to seize the crown since TRENTINO Volley won the title three times in a row between 2009 and 2011.

Zenit KAZAN (RUS) vs. Sir Colussi Sicoma PERUGIA (ITA) 3-1 (22-25, 25-23, 25-23, 26-24)
Cucine Lube CIVITANOVA (ITA) vs. PGE Skra BELCHATOW (POL) 3-0 (25-15, 25-20, 27-25)