In the sights of Luciano De Cecco and his companions is the first play-off of the European Pool scheduled for Thursday 30 November (6 pm) in Czechia, at the Arena Sparta Podvinny Mlyn in Prague, for the 2nd round with the victorious VK Lvi Praha making their Main Phase debut in a 3-0 win in Belgium against hosts Greenyard Maaseik.

Just enough time to return to Italy and the cooking team will have to face the Italian champions at the weekend. In fact, on Sunday 3 December (6 pm), Itas Trentino, fresh from the trip to Tours, will visit the Eurosuole Forum for the match on the 8th first leg of the regular season.

Fabio Balaso: “At this stage we have numerous close commitments and all of them are important. The period is tough, but we are ready to face another tough and intense season. We are preparing for the trip to Prague, then there will be another very interesting match at home against Trento. We are excited after the four victories in a row between the Super League and the Champions League, but there remains some regret for having only come close to winning the Super Cup. However, we made it back at home with Perugia. We are also very proud of the match played at the PalaPanini against Modena in the Regular Season. These are races that gave us important motivation. Just as the success against Taranto can have an impact because winning helps to win and we did it by overcoming difficulties. Now we must all work together to reduce the ups and downs in the game as much as possible.”

Weekly program

Monday: rest.

Tuesday: weights, technique.

Wednesday: departure for Prague, technical.

Thursday: technical, 2nd round Pool E of the Champions League VS Lvi Praha (6pm at Arena Sparta Podvinny Mlyn).

Friday: return to Italy.

Saturday: weights, technique.

Sunday: technical, 8th day of SuperLega VS Trento (6pm at the Eurosuole Forum).