Novara two steps away from triumph in CEV Cup

Lorenzo Bernardi’s Igor Gorgonzola Novara is in Blaj, Romania, where tomorrow, Tuesday, April 1 at 5 p.m. Italian time (6 p.m. local time), it will take the court against the hosts Alba Blaj for the return match of the CEV Cup final. The match, which will award the second continental trophy, will be broadcast live on Sky Sport Uno, Sky Sport Arena, NOW and DAZN.

Buoyed by the 3-1 win in the first leg, the Azzurri will win the trophy in the event of a win, with any result, or in the event of a 3-2 defeat. Should Alba Blaj instead prevail 3-1 or 3-0, the teams will play for the trophy in a golden set tie-breaker, to be played on a tie-break basis.

The blue team will win the trophy in the first leg.

If successful, the CEV Cup would be the fifth consecutive trophy in Europe won by Italian teams, following last year’s hat trick (Novara itself in Challenge, Chieri in CEV Cup and Conegliano in Champions) and Rome’s success in this year’s Challenge. A cup that is missing from Igor’s European trophy cabinet, in which there are the 2019 Champions, a Challenge Cup (2023-24) and a WEVZA Cup (2023-24), but won by another Novara club, Asystel, twice, in 2005-06 and 2008-09. The trophy would also represent not only the 17th Italian victory in the competition, but also the fifth in the last six editions: only Eczacibasi in 2021-22 broke the tricolor streak that began with Busto Arsizio in 2018-19 and continued with Vero Volley, Scandicci and Chieri.