Allianz Milan to'assault the battleship Perugia

With the tenth day of the first leg, the SuperLega Credem Banca is running and approaching the turnaround verdicts, and finishing in the top four on Dec. 14 will have an immediate weight, namely the chance to play at home the quarterfinal round of access to the Italian Cup Final Four. Allianz Milano is going for it, although the last two matches of the first leg are against two biggies of the caliber of Perugia and Civitanova, respectively the 2025 continental champions and holders of the Coppa Italia as well as finalists of the last Scudetto. In between there will also be a long trip to North Macedonia for the Challenge Cup.

Sunday 7, the day of St. Ambrose, patron saint of Milan, Allianz plays at 6 p.m. at the Cloud against Sir Susa Scai Perugia. Live on RaiPlay with commentary by Edi Dembinski and Andrea “Lucky” Lucchetta, and on VBTV with commentary by Lorenzo Castiglia and Giorgio Goldoni. Referees are Dominga Lot of Santa Lucia di Piave, international since 2017, and Mauro Goitre of Turin, international since 2014.

Allianz Milan and Sir Susa Scai Perugia meet again under the net for direct clash No. 36. The tally is 26 wins to nine for the Umbrians, but some of the nine Milan victories have been really heavy. Sir leads the standings with 26 points and has two more matches already played because of the World Club Championship schedule. Lorenzetti’s team is already certain to enter the first round of the Del Monte® Coppa Italia as the top seed, even in one of the first two places in case of a three-point blitz in Lombardy. The Ambrosian lineup comes from a 3-1 run in the postponement in Cuneo. As mentioned, Coach Piazza’s team is also already qualified for the Italian Cup Quarterfinals, but now in 6th place it must try to make a run on Lube and Piacenza now at +1 and +2.

Two former Allianz players are wearing Perugia’s jersey today: center fielder Agustín Loser and setter Yuki Ishikawa, the latter unavailable in the Bianconeri’s last match. And the two clubs’ infirmary could hold sway in this challenge as well. For the Umbrians, Roberto Russo also did not report on Wednesday, for the Milanese, in addition to Seppe Rotty engaged in rehabilitation after a shoulder injury in the preseason, setter Leonardo Barbanti and opposite Veikka Lindqvist were also absent in Cuneo.

Absences aside the stellar duels certainly will not be lacking. Among Roberto Piazza’s men, the closest to reaching personal goals are Ferre Reggers, chasing point No. 200 on the season (-1) and an average of 5.85 points per set. The Allianz Milano captain leads the league’s bomber list followed by Nikolov at 195. Adding up the points in his three seasons, Reggers ranks third on the all-time list in Milan’s history, surpassed Patry and points firmly toward the second place occupied by Nimir Abdel-Aziz. Francesco Recine is 2 points away from 2,000 in Volleyball League Serie A competitions and one step away from his 100th winning attack of the season. Among the guests, Kamil Semeniuk and Sebastián Solé are respectively 2 and 3 aces away from 100 in Regular Season; Oleh Plotnytskyi is 17 points away from 2,500 in SuperLega; Roberto Russo, unavailable Wednesday, is 5 points away from the 1,000 mark in SuperLega. Like last year, the match and challenge in the match between Tatsunori Otsuka’s team and Yuki Ishikawa will have the spotlight of the Rising Sun media and has attracted a veritable tour of Japanese fans to Milan. Tickets still available on the vivaticket circuit, presale numbers portend a show within a show even in the packed stands.

Tommaso Ichino setter of Allianz Milano: “Sunday will be a tough match seeing the caliber of a team like Perugia. We are preparing as best as we can despite always some absence during the week during training and the little time between matches, however personally going to play against a team full of such high level players only makes me want to work even harder”.

Classifica SuperLega Credem Banca: Sir Susa Scai Perugia 26, Rana Verona 23, Itas Trentino 21, Gas Sales Bluenergy Piacenza 18, Cucine Lube Civitanova 17, Allianz Milano 16, Valsa Group Modena 16, MA Acqua S.Bernardo Cuneo 9, Sonepar Padova 8, Vero Volley Monza 7, Cisterna Volley 6, Yuasa Battery Grottazzolina 1.

One more match: MA Acqua S.Bernardo Cuneo, Vero Volley Monza

Two more games: Sir Susa Scai Perugia