Destination Istanbul for the #SuperMOTW: THY vs Dinamo Moscow
News
Time has come to get ready once again for the CEV Champions League Volley Super Match of the Week, and this time we travel to Istanbul (TUR) for an absolute stunner between newcomers THY Istanbul and one of the most successful teams in European club competitions, Dinamo Moscow.
Despite this being the first time these two teams will be facing each other, Dinamo Moscow is travelling to Turkey well aware that they need to improve on their record against Turkish opposition, having won only 2 of the last 16 Champions League matches against teams from Turkey.
On the other hand, THY Istanbul comes into today’s #SuperMOTW following a disappointing start to their maiden season, a painful 3-0 defeat at Novara, where former THY star Ebrar Karakurt shines as bright as always.
While Ebrar Karakurt has momentarily traded the Turkish league for the Italian one, another potentially future volleyball star has found her way to THY Istanbul. Canadian Kiera Van Ryk has amassed quite the European experience in a short amount of time, managing to finish as Developres SkyRes RZESZÓW's top scorer in the Champions League last season with 82 points.
In Moscow, Nataliya Goncharova continues to reign supreme and lead her team on and off the court, with an absolutely stunning record of having finished as Dinamo MOSCOW's top scorer in each of the last 12 Champions League seasons (2009/10-2020/21), winning exactly 100 points in the 2020/21 edition.
Şeyma Ercan’Our first year in Champions League arena as a club. Our group is very challenging, but our wish is to pass the round. In our first match, we could not show the performance we wanted against Novara . Dinamo MOSKOW is a very strong team, has very talented players. We want to show a much beter performance this time and win this match’’.
THY Istanbul Team Captain
Will experience prevail and Dinamo Moscow will overcome their “Turkish obstacle” (13 of their last 17 defeats came against teams representing Turkey) or will the enthusiasm of a first Champions League Volley match on home court in history push THY to an equally historic first win in the competition? We’ll soon find out!