Volleyball
Men’s Volley League: The Derby Olympiacos – PAOK closes the third game
The big derby between Olympiakos and PAOK will conclude the program of the 3rd game of the 2nd phase in Men’s Volley League.
The top derby, taking place on Monday, March 14, will conclude Vifasis’ 3rd game and play an important role in establishing the Volley League Championship champions (“Melina Mercouri”, 20:00, ERT -3, Sportish)
Olympiakos has 14 points and together with Finikas, ONEX is 3rd in the overall standings. He’s within range of PAOK (he has 15) whom he wants to beat in order to overtake and, above all, take the lead with a view to the rematch and in the event of a draw.
Italian Olympic coach Alberto Giuliani said: “It’s an important game, we have to beat the opponent, it’s going to be an important game for us because the win will keep us high in the table. I’ll ask my players to do their best to pursue our goal and i’m sure they will.
The Estonian Cross of Olympiakos Rene Tepan stated: “The situation is clear. From now on the real Greek championship begins. Everything is open for everyone! There are four teams fighting for the championship and they are quite even, there is a competition between the first places. The game against PAOK is definitely one the most important of the season, we all know that. We’re playing at home and we have to take advantage of that. PAOK have a good team and a good coach. He plays a lot with block defense and has attacking ability. We’ve studied him as much as we can and now we have to follow the instructions of our coach because in a game like this it’s the details that make the difference. The aggressive start of the game and the quality of our service will be important elements if we want to win this game with PAOK”.
PAOK are keen to get something positive out of the game at all costs to get away from Olympiacos. Nikos Samaras can, as he proved in the league round, but the players’ readiness will be important
The coach, Giannis Kalmazidis, explained on the federation’s official website, acpaok.gr: “We all know it’s one of the most important games against a strong team. We want to show our strength, play well and get as many points as possible. It’s going to be a difficult game that I don’t think will be judged in one go. There is an overview of the team. All elements have to work to win a team like OSFP. “They have improved and will be a difficult opponent, especially here at home.”
It is the 75th derby between the two sides since 1998, when the new scoring system was introduced. Olympiacos leads the wins with 57-17.
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