In their last home match of the Champions League group stage, head coach Nikolay Zhelyazkov's boys made over 1500 supporters even prouder of them, becoming the first team to take a point from one of Europe's top teams – Poland's "Jastrzębski", finishing the match 2:3 (21:25, 25:23, 22:25, 28:26, 12:15). The starting lineup for the visitors included French Olympic champion Benjamin Toniutti, Paris finalists with "Druzyna Polska" Tomasz Fornal, Łukasz Kaczmarek, and Norbert Huber, "Les Bleus" call-up Timothy Carle, and German international Anton Brehme. The visitors' head coach is Argentina's national team coach Marcelo Méndez.
"Levski" surpassed themselves and performed very strongly, showing that they can play as equals against world-class teams. The enthusiastic crowd, which filled the "Levski Sofia" hall on a weekday evening, also contributed to this.
The first game was evenly matched until 16:16, after which the opponent took the lead and went up 1:0 after 25:21.
In the second set, the "Blues" initially took the lead, but at 11:11, "Jastrzębski" seized the initiative. This continued until 21:18 for the visitors, when Venislav Anton stepped up to serve and delivered three consecutive aces.
This was followed by a block from setter Stoil Palev, an opponent's out, an ace from Todor Skrimov, and an attack by Antov, securing the necessary 4 points to win a set against the finalist of the last two Champions League seasons.
The positive energy carried over into the third set amidst the incessant cheers of the fans. "Levski" took the lead, with roles briefly swapping, until 22:22. However, 3 unanswered points followed for the Polish team, who pulled ahead 2:1.
The fourth set was the most contested, with both teams battling fiercely and neither managing to create a significant lead. At the end, the "Blues" showed Olympic composure and will to win. They saved 3 match points for the Polish giants, then had a chance to close the set. They failed on their first attempt, but Vladi Garkov made no mistake for 28:26. Thus, "Levski" sent the match into a tie-break and secured a point against the absolute favorite in the group.
The visitors took the lead in the score and were the first to reach the 8th point (8:6) during the court change. Antov again stepped up to serve and once again pulled three aces out of his sleeve to lead Zhelyazkov's squad 9:8. The experienced opponent recovered from the shock and managed to make a comeback, reaching 3 match points. This was aided by three powerful serves from Anton Brehme, who finished with 16 points (3 aces, 3 blocks).
The visitors managed to convert their second match point through Huber and closed out the match.
Brehme was chosen as the MVP of the match.
Venislav Antov was the most productive in the match, finishing with 22 points (7 aces).
Todor Skrimov added 19 points (1 ace). The 17-year-old middle blocker Nikolay Nikolaev, who replaced the injured captain Svetoslav Gotsev, had an impressive performance. He finished with 11 points (2 aces, 1 block).
For the visitors, the top scorers were Timothy Carle with 18 points and Tomasz Fornal with 18 points.
The first referee of the match was the Italian Stefano Cesare, who officiated the Olympic final in Paris. He did not hesitate to show a yellow, and subsequently a red card, to Huber for arguing a referee's decision.
In the other match of the group, French "Chaumont" won 3:0 (25:21, 25:17, 25:22) against German "Lüneburg" and thus displaced "Levski" from third place. Both teams have 1 win and 4 losses each, but the points are 5:3 in favor of the team led by former Bulgarian national coach Silvano Prandi.
Thus, the match of the last round in Chaumont on January 29th is a direct clash for the third position, which sends the winner to the quarterfinals of the CEV Cup tournament.
