Two electrifying quarter-finals in Bari to determine the last semifinalists

With two places in the last four of the EuroVolley 2023 - Men at stake, Tuesday's quarter-finals in Bari are expected to be thrilling clashes. Volleyball fans will see two podium regulars - Poland and Serbia battling to stay in the quest for the European crown and defending champions Italy taking on fearless Netherlands.

Just two years ago, the game between Poland and Serbia determined the bronze medalists of Europe's prime competition. And Tuesday's clash in Bari might be very intriguing, for several reasons. Both teams have a big collection of medals in their cabinets - Poland finished the two most recent editions of the EuroVolley with bronze medals, once Serbia won the title in 2019, so already the fact that one of them won't make it to the last four will be a bitter pill for one of them. In the last 10 editions of EuroVolley, Serbia didn't make it to the last four only twice, in 2009 and 2015. Poland, who is the 2023 Volleyball Nations League winner and world ranking leader, hasn't been so regular on the European stage like Serbia, and in the last ten editions they were four times in the last four (with bronze medals in 2011, 2019, 2021 and gold in 2009), but in the last years they were very successful at the international stage. 

Back in 2019 when Poland co-hosted EuroVolley, these teams met twice and both games were won by the Poles - in the group phase 3-2 and in the bronze medal match 3-0. However, Serbia had a memorable win over Poland at EuroVolley 2017, when they beat their decorated rival - and also the host of that edition - in the opening game at the National Stadium in Warsaw. Also, their most recent encounter finished in favour of Serbia - who beat Poland 3-0 in Nagoya (Japan) on 11 June 2023. Drazen Luburić was Serbia's best scorer in that game with 19 points. Poland will enter the quarter-finals as an unbeaten team, who dropped two sets on their way - one in the game against the Netherlands in the pool stage and the other one in the eight-finals against Belgium. Serbia in the group stage lost to Italy, but won their eight-final match against Czechia in straight sets. The quarter-final game between Poland and Serbia will start at 18:00 CEST.

In the last quarter-final match of the EuroVolley 2023, the reigning European and world champions - Italy - will face the Netherlands. And their track of records against each other is pretty long. These teams will meet for the 17th time at the European Championships! The Netherlands had won 12 of the previous 16 encounters; Italy won four times. However, considering the most recent results, the distribution of power is slightly different, as Italy defeated the Netherlands in 12 of their last 13 major tournament meetings (world level and European Championships). The Netherlands' only win in this run came in the playoff round of the European Championships in 2009. Their most recent games were held in the 2022 Volleyball Nations League, when Italy beat the Netherlands twice - 3-0 in the preliminary round in Gdansk and 3-1 in the quarter-finals in Bologna.

There is no doubt that the team around coach Ferdinado de Giorgi aim to defend the title. They have a chance to win back-to-back European Championships for the third time, after 1993-1995 and 2003-2005, but the Netherlands will definitely not make this game an easy job for the hosts. Powered by Nimir Abdel-Aziz, who was the best scorer of Oranje in all their six games at EuroVolley 2023 and scored so far 103 points, the Netherlands showed that they can be a threat to every opponent - and they are able to overcome obstacles during the games like in the eight-finals against Germany, when after leading 2-0 they prevailed only in tie-break. Obviously, still it's Italy will be favorites to advance, having a star-studded squad led by playmaking maestro Simone Giannelli. The EuroVolley hosts dropped only two sets on their way in the last pool phase game against Germany. In addition, Italy are one short of becoming the first team to claim 150 wins at the European Championships, entering the court on Tuesday in Bari with 149 wins to their name. The quarter-final between Italy and the Netherlands is scheduled at 21:00 CEST.