In recent weeks, Alex Nikolov's return to the court has given a boost to Cucine Lube Civitanova, improving the team's performance, strengthening the group's confidence, and generating even more captivating support in the stands from the Lube nel Cuore's Predators fans. On the day before the away match in Taranto for the 9th round of the regular season, the Bulgarian outside hitter spoke openly to the microphones of 7x4, a daily program on Radio Arancia, a media partner of the red and whites. Provoked by the questions of host Alessandro Ranieri, the Balkan giant revealed without hesitation the ambitions for third place at the end of the first half of the season, then gave an update on his recovery and disclosed some details about the chemistry that has developed among his teammates.
Alex Nikolov: "Now the focus is on the away match in Taranto, we want to win in Puglia and then fight for third place, thereby increasing our chances for an easier draw in the Italian Cup. I feel good, the recovery is going full steam ahead. I am progressing gradually, improving every day compared to the previous one. This summer I tried to avoid surgery with conservative treatment, but everything was slow and in the end I resolved the back problem in the operating room... and here I am again fighting on the court. I cannot be described as a 'veteran' in the true sense of the word, but even though I am very young, I have played many matches in this jersey and I want to honor it. We are coming from qualifying for the round of 16 of the Challenge Cup, the team did its job with a quick 3-0, we are still among the favorites in the tournament. In the Italian Cup tournament, we will have to fight with ourselves and approach the matches with maximum concentration, without giving any chance or gifting anything to our opponents. The atmosphere that has been created this year is enviable and the team is united. Even the older and more experienced players get along with us young ones, help us and we perceive them as true friends, in addition to teammates. Well done to the Serie A veterans for the way they lead us!"