Türkiye and Ukraine to play for the trophy of Golden #EuroLeagueM

It was an exciting day for the semifinalist of the Golden #EuroLeagueM. The same four teams that were in the Final Four of this prestigious competition last year, competed today in the semifinals as well: Türkiye, Czechia, Croatia, and Ukraine.

Türkiye vs. Czechia: 3-2 (22-25, 25-17, 19-25, 25-23, 15-12)

First up were Türkiye and Czechia where the team from Türkiye was eager to get revenge for a last year’s final where they also met with Czechia but in the end lost and won second place.

And they’ve managed to do so. Türkiye is in the finals and on Sunday they will play against Ukraine for the first place, trophy, and gold medal.

The game started off equally on both sides, after all – the stakes were high. In the first set Türkiye was the master of kill blocks (four of them) and Czechia was the master of aces (three of those). Although it looked as if Türkiye is going to take the first set, in the end, it was Czechia who took an important first step towards the finals with 22-25 on the scoreboard.

Türkiye took the whole initiative in the second set and with three aces and two kill blocks they were a better team on the field and they’ve taken the set by 25-17. The third set marked the domination of the Czechia and with four kill blocks, they were “killing” the Türkiye’s attacks. Guests took the set by 19-25.

And then a turnover from the Türkiye happened. First, they took the fourth set by 25-23 and then they were fighting with Czechia for the big win. Türkiye put in everything they’ve got and took the last set by 15-12 and secured the spot in the big final!

Croatia vs Ukraine: 1-3 (23-25, 25-21, 21-25, 12-25)

Then it was time for the second semifinal match, the one between the home heroes, Croatia, and Ukraine. These teams played against each other in the Pool phase this year and Ukraine won twice by 3-0. On the other hand, this was the re-match of the last year’s match for the third place in the Golden #EuroLeagueM where Croatia celebrated with 3-2 on the scoreboard.

And today it was again Ukraine who took the win and secured the finals of the Golden #EuroLeagueM.
Ukraine started strongly in the match and in the beginning, they already had a four-point advantage (3-7). On the wings of their amazing fans in Zadar Arena, Croatians managed to get close to the Ukrainians and at 22-23 everything was still open. But it was Ukraine who took the first set by 23-25.

A whole different story then happened in the second set where Croatians were pumped by the cheering from their fans and they managed to close the set by 25-21. In the third set we were watching an equal game but at the end of the set Ukraine had a four-point lead and there was no going back from there for the Croatians.

The last set was an “easy” one for the Ukrainians as they already had an early advantage of six points (2-8) and even eight points (4-12). It was hard to get back into the game for the home team and even though the home crowd was cheering them on, there was no going back and Ukrainians closed the set, and the match, by 12-25.

On Sunday the schedule is as follows:

At 5 pm the match between Czechia and Croatia will take place and they will be fighting for the third place and the bronze medal. At 8 pm the final match of the Golden #EuroLeagueM will take place, the long-anticipated final between Türkiye and Ukraine.

Don’t forget to tune in live at EuroVolley.TV for both matches!