Gold Favorites Haunted by Haak Ahead of Quarterfinal Clash

Italy know they cannot build their quarterfinal plan around stopping Isabelle Haak. “Our main focus is not stopping Bella from scoring, because that is impossible,” Italian star Ekaterina Antropova said before Wednesday’s European Championship meeting with Sweden.

The teams reached the quarterfinals after identical 3-0 victories in the previous round. Italy defeated Bulgaria, while Sweden beat host nation Czechia. Their next meeting will take place in Brno, the second time they have faced each other at this European Championship.

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Our main focus is not stopping Bella from scoring, because that is impossible.

Italy already won the group-stage match in Gothenburg 3-0, although Sweden pushed them hard in the second set. Antropova said Italy understood how difficult it was to play against Haak, while also pointing to the quality of the rest of Sweden’s team.

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We managed to win that set. We know it is never easy to play against Bella, but we also saw other fantastic performances from the team.

Sweden will need to study more than Italy’s starting six. Haak said the Italian squad has strong players on the bench who can be introduced if the team falls behind. Italy enter the match as the reigning world champions, Olympic champions and favorites for the tournament.

Haak, who plays alongside Italian stars including Sarah Fahr at Imoco Volley Conegliano, expected to meet the world champions in a possible quarterfinal. She acknowledged the challenge but said the pressure belonged to Italy. Sweden finished third in its group in Gothenburg, the best group-stage result by a Swedish women’s team at the tournament, and reached the quarterfinals for only the second time in its history.

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We think highly of them and they deserve it, but of course we want to do our very best to disrupt their game.