"Mentally, we have nothing to lose": Stuttgart hope for comeback against Rzeszów

There will be no shortage of drama when Developres Rzeszów and Allianz MTV Stuttgart face off for the second time in the space of two weeks, with a place in the quarter-finals on the cards.

Undoubtedly, this seems to be most balanced clash of this round is the one between Developres Rzeszów and Allianz MTV Stuttgart, with the Polish side aiming to secure a quarter-finals berth for the third time in their history, after securing it in the 2021/22 and 2022/23 seasons.

The first leg was a battle between the two sides’ top scorers, as Stuttgart’s Krystal Rivers had 32 points, followed by Maria Segura Palleres, who had 16 points. But the two players failed to save anything for Stuttgart, which conceded a 1:3 loss, including a crucial third set, which lasted 55 minutes and went into Developres Rzeszów’s way, 45:43.

This time around, the Polish side, which had a fantastic scorer in Sabrina de Jesus Machado, who had 33 points, followed by Marrit Jasper (19 points) and Monika Fedusio (18 points), needs only two sets to make their comeback after two years in this phase of the competition.

But Developres Rzeszów will come buoyed into this home clash, as the Polish side has won the domestic cup with a hard-fought 3:0 win against ŁKS Commercecon Łodz last weekend, in a hard-fought battle, which proved Rzeszów’s resilience.

On the other hand, the German side has already been four times in the quarter-finals of the European premium competition, most recently in the past two seasons, when they were eliminated in this stage of the CEV Champions League Women.

“Of course, we have our backs against the wall after the first leg. But if you look at the performance there, we can definitely believe in a positive outcome. The opponents are very good, very stable. We've seen that. They have been very stable throughout the entire season. We have to go full throttle from the start and then we'll see what's possible, Mentally, we have nothing to lose," said Stuttgart’s coach, Konstantin Bitter.

The winner of this doubleheader will probably face the most dreaded test in the quarter-finals, as they are due to play against reigning champions A.Carraro Imoco Conegliano.