Zenit Kazan poised for Pool C quarterfinal ticket

Six-time European champions and arguably the most successful club of this century, Zenit Kazan are out to return to the top of the continental podium and their route to renewed glory passes through the 2nd Leg of Pool C in the 2021 European Men's Champions League, starting Tuesday in the capital of Tatarstan.

Jastrzebski Wegiel have already withdrawn from this 2nd Leg, after also forfeiting the matches in the 1st Leg last December due to coronavirus complications.

Zenit enter the 2nd Leg as table leaders and on a perfect record. So as long as they don't stumble on the closing day of the pool to ACH Volley Ljubljana (who lost both their matches of the 1st Leg), all they practically need to do is take one set from Berlin Recycling Volleys when they go head-to-head on Wednesday.

On the back of great performances by match MVP Alexander Butko and top scorer Maxim Mikhailov, Zenit had swept Berlin 3-0 in barely over an hour in the first leg in the German capital.

Zenit, third in the domestic table, will be coming off a 3-1 win in the Russian League over Yenisei Krasnoyarsk last week, when Mikhailov played his landmark 500th match for the club with yet another top-scoring performance. Zenit will be counting on their 32-year-old opposite to deliver again this week, as he did in the 1st Leg.

Berlin, on the other hand, need to pull together after losing on the road to United Volleys Frankfurt 3-2 in their last match, despite a match high of 24 points from Benjamin Patch. They currently stand second in the Bundesliga table, trailing only VfB Friedrichshafen.