Bulgarian international Simeon Nikolov gave a candid interview to the Polish mediaInteriabefore the extremely important clash between Bulgaria and Poland in the Nations League. The 18-year-old outside hitter, who is recovering from an ankle injury sustained in the match against Turkey on June 28, hopes to participate in our team's last two matches, although he is not yet fully recovered:

"My ankle still hurts. Of course, I'm not in my best shape right now, but I hope to help the team in the last two games because I think I can do it."

Simeon shared his impressions of the Ergo Arena in Gdansk, as well as the atmosphere around the team after the 3:0 victory over China, when his brother Aleksander Nikolov was once again above all with 21 points.

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Journalists in Poland did not fail to highlight the family tree of the Nikolov brothers - with father Vladimir Nikolov, one of the greatest Bulgarian volleyball players, and with a mother who also played volleyball. This impresses even Poland's coach Nikola Grbić:

"Both of them, technically, are even better than their father", says the Serbian coach about Alex and Simeon Nikolov.

Simeon admits that although he had a choice of which path to take, volleyball was his natural decision:

"Of course, I had a choice of what to do with my life, but I chose volleyball because I like it. I don't regret it. I thought about basketball, but I guess it's too late for the NBA - I'll stick with volleyball."

🎯 Expectations before the match with Poland

Bulgaria faces host Poland today at 5:00 p.m., which is the penultimate match in the tournament. The Poles have a tough schedule, including a match against France, and no wrong step is desirable. Simeon emphasizes that the chances against Poland are small, but that is precisely why the challenge is great:

"Against such a strong team as Poland, we can only hope for a good game. It will be very difficult to even win two sets or score a point. But the hall will be full, it will be fun to play, it will be spectacular."

🔍 For the match Poland - Cuba (1:3)

Nikolov also commented on Poland's surprising loss to Cuba, where the hosts squandered a 24:21 lead in the fourth set:

"It was a very good, physical match. It's clear that Poland has an extremely deep squad. Anyone can come in and change the outcome of the match. Yes, they led 24:21, but Cuba turned them around - that's how it is in volleyball, anything can happen even in the last second."
photo: Nikolay Varadinov