Panathinaikos’ men double the ‘green joy’ in #CEVChallengeCupM
News
The men’s team of Panathinaikos emulated the achievement of their female colleagues – as on Wednesday night they celebrated a home victory only a few hours later than the group coached by Ioannis Kalmazidis to progress to the 8th Finals of the men’s Challenge Cup. The ‘Greens’ capitalised on their 3-0 away victory to cruise past European Cups rookies Khari Byul-Byul SHUSHA of Azerbaijan in four sets and will play Italy’s standout Mint Vero Volley MONZA in the next round.
Dimitrios Andreopoulos“We are satisfied. We played very well in the first two sets. However, the next ones were also good, even if we lost the third. We made an extensive rotation to rest players because there is a difficult schedule ahead. We want to play difficult matches like the one that is coming up next, and we will take as much as we can from there.”
Head coach of Panathinaikos
Angelos Markou, player of Panathinaikos and top scorer with 16 points: “It was a very nice experience. The opponent was good. I feel the support of my teammates and it was nice that they celebrated the points with me. We will try our best in the next round.”
Javid Suleymanov, assistant coach of Khari Byul-Byul SHUSHA: “We are happy with the effort we made. Panathinaikos is a better team, and they have more experience than us. We will try next season to advance further in this competition.”
Lachlan John Bray, player of SHUSHA: “Panathinaikos is a team with great power and a long, rich history. We did the best we could. Our team was created two years ago only, so we will try next season for the best.”
Last week, Austria’s McDonalds RIED IM INNKREIS had travelled back from Romania with a 1-3 loss, and they exit the competition since Steaua BUCURESTI emerged victorious from the rematch as well, this time by 3-2 (21-25, 25-19, 21-25, 25-20, 15-9), with the fourth-set win sealing their progression to the next round. The roster of the Romanians includes the libero of Austria’s national team, Philipp Kroiss, who briefly returned ‘home’ for this fixture.