Montpellier (AFP)

Three matches, three wins, not a set of losses and a qualification for the 8th in pocket: the French volleyball players have perfectly approached their start of the European Championship at home in Montpellier, and will now gauge against Bulgaria and Italy .

On Sunday, in an Arena South of France just as stuffed (5,083) as for the first two matches, Laurent Tillie has once again aligned the same six base, the one that allowed him to fly over the meetings against Romania and Greece , still deprived of Earvin Ngapeth and Trévor Clevenot.

Against Portugal, the Blues once again dominated a weaker opponent, with an impressive block in the first set (7 blocks) that completely stifled the Portuguese attacks, to pocket the gain of the 25-11 set.

"We had such a success and such insolence in the game, that automatically the alert threshold has decreased," said Laurent Tillie after the meeting.

The following two heats were more hooked but won 25-20 and 25-23, under the eyes of the world decathlon record holder Kévin Mayer, who came to support the French before taking charge of the World Athletics Championships in Doha (27 September). October 6).

Teammates Benjamin Toniutti will pass a first big test against Bulgaria's Silvano Prandi, Chaumont coach since 2015, unbeaten in Montpellier since the start of the competition. Then another against Italy's Osmany Juantorena, Ivan Zaytsev and Simone Giannelli on Wednesday night.

- Finish first group -

"Bulgaria, it's a very powerful team, it's good, the day when it's complicated it's going to have to be rounded out, it's going to be a very difficult game, it will have to serve well to make them thwart. in reception, "said Libero Bleus Jena Grebennikov.

The main challenge of the French will be to muzzle the power of sharp Tsvetan Sokolov, author of 33 points against Portugal Saturday night, and heir in the hearts of Bulgarian star Matey Kaziyski.

The stake of these two meetings will be to avoid the third place of the group, which could reserve to them Russia champion of Europe in title and laureate of the last two League of nations, since the 8th of the final.

In the game of comparisons, Italy left two sets in the road, one against Greece and one against Romania, when Bulgaria lost one against Portugal and the French none.

"Put three times 3-0, it's good for morale, the other teams have not done it, it shows that we are focused and involved in this competition, it's not even a test, it's is to win the first place of the pool to avoid Russia, "concludes Grebennikov.

© 2019 AFP