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A Champions League debut for both Kuzbass and Fakel and an outright Russian derby this time at a European scale.

Kuzbass players started the first set more, with good defense and block that took the scoreboard to 5:2 score. At 11:7, Kuzbass’ main spiker, Victor Poletaev crash landed on the court and was replaced by Bogdan Glivenko. After that, Fakel managed to catch up with the help of Egor Klyuka’s spike streak. Both teams showed perseverance towards the end of the set with Kuzbass edging it 26:24.

In the second set Dmitry Pashitskiy’s service and Yaroslav Podlesnykh’s attack moves made the difference. It was a set with plenty displays of long and spectacular rallies, with Kuzbass winning at 25:21.

Fakel started the third set as determined as ever to remain in the fight, but Kuzbass showed a reliable blocking game taking the scoreline to 10:5 and continued to dominate thereafter. A convincing win for the hosts as they look forward to the rest of their maiden campaign in the #CLVolleyM

Yaroslav Podlesnykh from Kuzbass was named MVP of the match.

Georghe Cretu, head coach of Kuzbass KEMROVO:  “On our National League previous match we won because of our character, and today it was paid back when Victor went out and Bogdan came on court. I have no info on my injured player but in a short moment I will find out. Today Fakel didn't show its best, and we were able to show correct pressure, but we respect all of our opponents in the pool so we are taking it one match at time”.

Igor Kobzar, captain of Kuzbass KEMEROVO: “We were shocked by Victor Poletaev's trauma, he turned the ankle, so we all had to take a bit from his game role. I think one of the reasons for  our victory was that previous games, our match with Nova in National League helped us, but for Fakel - their game with Nizhny Novgorod took some of their power. Russian Championship is very demanding, and I think Fakel didn't show their best. All of my teammates scored well. It’s hard to tell the best. Everyone and everything are important in the debut Champions League match.”

Camillo Placi, coach of Fakel NOVY URENGOY: “First of all, I would like to congratulate Kuzbass on the victory. Despite the fact that they lost Poletaev during the first set, the team did not shatter and played very well. Unfortunately, we were not able to show our level of play today, there were a lot of problems in the attack and on the block. In the first set we were not able to change the tide of the game, but if we would, everything could have turned out differently. The same thing happened in the second set”.

Egor Kliuka, captain of Fakel NOVY URENGOY: “It’s hard to say something. Poletaev’s injury affected us more than Kuzbass, although it seems that it should have been different. We could not find our connections throughout the game. I haven’t seen such a game for a long time, especially from our side, so one can say that it was I who let us down. Though, one can say that we played poorly together.”