Allianz Milano deploy siege mentality to help qualify against Halkbank Ankara

With two of the three Italian teams at the start of this season’s CEV Champions League Men – Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia and Mint Vero Volley Monza – already in the quarter-finals, where they will face off, ensuring that an Italian side is in the semi-finals, the other Italian team, Allianz Milano, need a masterstroke of a comeback to progress to the next phase.

After being the third best second-placed side after the 4th round, with one point less than Olympiacos and a worse set point ratio than Berlin Recycling Volleys, Milano had a dreaded test in the play-offs, in their maiden appearance in the European premium competition, facing an experienced side in Halkbank Ankara.

As the two sides face off in the second leg, scheduled for Tuesday, 25 February, at 20:45 CET, Ankara hold a 3:1 lead after the first leg, with the Italian hosts needing a win and not drop more than a set, in order to push the match into the golden set, where the winner would progress to the quarter-finals in this scenario.

For Ankara, it would be the third consecutive season appearing in the quarter-finals of the CEV Champions League Men, however tired legs could play a factor here, as the Turkish side played eight matches already in the first 22 days in February.

That could be seen especially in the Turkish league, where Halkbank Ankara conceded three losses this month in five matches, after previously conceding three losses in the first 16 matches, as they now rank second behind rivals Ziraat Bankasi Ankara.

Nevertheless, the big objective for the Turkish side is to progress to the next phase, the quarter-finals, where a clash against PGE Projekt Warsaw – the team with the best record in the 4th round, which dropped only two sets from the 20 they played – awaits.

“We know that a quarter-final can be the next step towards the Final Four, therefore we will be giving our everything to try and clinch that place. Our thought is not to enable our opponent to win this match. We trust ourselves and we will do everything to win,” says Micah Ma'a, Halkbank’s captain.

Interesting enough, Halkbank are very good under pressure, winning 10 of the last 13 matches in the CEV Champions League Men which needed a fifth set, a scenario which can also happen here and would bring the qualification in the quarter-finals for the Turkish side, after their first win, 3:1.

The two sides are no strangers, as Milano clinched their maiden European trophy – the CEV Volleyball Challenge Cup in the 2020/21 season with a double win, 3:0 and 3:1, against Halkbank, in the final. 

Yet the Italian side knows fully well that their opponents are no pushovers. In 19 matches against Italian opposition in the European premium competition, Halkbank have won seven matches and lost 12, including an away win this season against Sir Sicoma Monini Perugia, the first loss for the Italian side.

"It's a very delicate challenge, we absolutely must win without dropping two sets  to face the golden set, we will need the push and the warmth from the stands,” said Milano’s Damiano Catania.

This will also be a battle between several strong scorers, with Halkbank relying on Dick Kooy and Marek Sotola, who both scored 23 points in the first leg, as Sotola improved his average points per set scored with one point from the 4th round, while Milano had Ferre Reggers in fine shape, with 19 points.