Montpellier (AFP)
Russia, the reigning European champion, has achieved a third success in as many matches on Saturday in Ljubljana in the pool phase of Euro-2019 volleyball, and remains undefeated as France and Bulgaria in Montpellier.
In contrast to their first two outings against Turkey and Belarus, Tuomas Sammelvuo's men did not concede a setback against Macedonia, although they had to go up 30 points to complete the game in three sets (25- 15, 25-16, 30-28).
In this group, the Slovenian hosts scored a second success in two games, defeating Finland 3 sets to 1 (25-18, 26-24, 24-26, 25-15). Slovenians and Russians are well off to play first place in the group.
In Montpellier, the French have still not yielded any set, serious winners of Greece (25-14, 25-18, 26-24) thanks to a breathtaking Stéphen Boyer. The sharp Verona scored 25 points, actively participating in the success of the Blues.
Sunday, for their third meeting, the men of Laurent Tillie will have to beware of Portugal, which annoyed Bulgaria Saturday.
Teammates Tsvetan Sokolov, the Bulgarian starter / striker, had to work hard to win their third victory in three games, 3 sets to 1 (25-23, 28-30, 25-23, 25-22), spending more than two hours on the pitch against the Portuguese.
In Belgium, the Germans, vice-champions of Europe 2017, are in a delicate position: after a heavy defeat against Serbia for their first match, they lost in the tie-break against the hosts (25-23, 25- 17, 22-25, 15-25, 15-13) and no longer have the right to make mistakes for their next three games.
In the same group as the double Polish world champions, at rest on Saturday, the Netherlands won against Ukraine, signing their second win (28-26, 29-27, 25-21) at home in Rotterdam.
© 2019 AFP