More than 12,000 Olympiacos fans packed Peace and Friendship Stadium for the 2017-18 CEV Challenge Cup match against Bunge Ravenna, making the environment look and feel more like a soccer game than a volleyball arena.
Another view of the action can be found here.
Ravenna star Paul Buchegger was understandably stunned by the crowd and environment.
“The atmosphere, the fans were really great,” Buchegger said. “It was a “red hell”, when I entered the court I had goose bumps. I have never played in front of such a big crowd.”
Ravenna won the match in four sets (28-26, 23-25, 25-20, 25-18) on April 11 clinching the CEV Cup, but that did not damper the enthusiasm of the crowd throughout the match.
Buchegger led Ravenna with 21 points, including 19 kills, a block and an ace. Nicolas Marechal added 12 points with 10 kills, a block and an ace. Giacomo Raffaelli chipped in 11 points with seven kills, three blocks and an ace.
Jeroen Rauwedink paced four Olympiacos players with double-digit scoring efforts. Rauwedink notched 12 kills, two aces and a block, while Mikko Oivanen (11), Todor Aleksiev (10) and Marcus Bohme (10) followed. Bohme racked up four kills, four blocks and two aces.
This is not the first time Olympiacos fans have come out en force to support their squad. Back in 2005, more than 15,000 watched the teams take on Ortec Nesselande Rotterdam and claim their second European title.
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