MONZA end Panathinaikos winning streak in #CEVChallengeCupM

On Wednesday night, Italy’s Mint Vero Volley MONZA stopped the winning streak of Greece’s Panathinaikos ATHENS in the men’s Challenge Cup, with the team coached by Massimo Eccheli securing a hard-fought 3-2 away victory in the Hellenic capital after coming back twice from one set down (21-25, 25-18, 22-25, 18-25, 15-9). The return match in Italy will follow next week with the eventual winners progressing to the quarterfinals. 

Dimitrios Andreopoulos, head coach of Panathinaikos: “This was the first defeat for us and certainly defeats always hurt. I think that for most of the game we were up to the task, but in the third and fourth sets we did not have and show the same concentration. The opponent is of a very high level, and they showed it and what they did at critical points was to play their attacks minimising mistakes. These teams are used to constantly playing under such pressure unlike us. From here on, we certainly want to go there to show that we are also a strong team in Europe and to claim what belongs to us.”

Massimo Eccheli, head coach of MONZA: “For sure we were quite affected by the atmosphere in the stadium as in Italy we are not used to playing in such a warm atmosphere as we did tonight. I think we did not enter the match well against an opponent who showed a lot of momentum. We gradually improved and managed to secure a valuable win. Nevertheless, we have one more battle in the second leg and we for sure need to play at a very high level again if we are to qualify for the next round.”