Two wins in the second group stage of the men’s European Volleyball Championship in Turkey put Bulgaria into the semi-finals of the competition.

A clean sweep of Finland (25-22, 25-15, 25-20) and a more laboured win against The Netherlands (25-15, 26-24, 21-25, 28-26), added to an undefeated record in the first group stage, were sufficient to book Bulgaria’s place in the semis with a match to spare.

The match, which was to be played on September 10 against Russia, would decide the winner of the pool. Considering the quality of the opposition in the other pool, analysts have said the two teams are the favourites for the crown. However, they could meet as early as the semi-final, since under the tournament regulations the winner of one of the two final pools is randomly drawn against either of the runner-ups.

Bulgaria had the toughest draw in the competition, playing this year’s World League finalists Serbia and Italy in the first group stage. A difficult opening match against Serbia (21-25, 25-17, 19-25, 25-22, 15-11) was followed by an equally tense match against Italy.

The Bulgarian machine, led by Italian mastermind Silvano Prandi, has been ruthlessly efficient and their skill and superiority were most apparent when they faced Prandi’s home country in a battle of two master tacticians. Prandi got the best of his counterpart, Andrea Anastasi, controlling every aspect of the encounter. Even when the Italians tried hard to turn the score around in the second and third sets, the Bulgarians moved on swiftly and clinically, sealing the match in straight sets (26-24, 25-22, 25-22) after 81 minutes.

Vladimir Nikolov, the captain of the Bulgarian team, said after the game: "I’m of course very happy that we managed to keep our rhythm against Italy. They have several top players in their roster," he said quoted by the tournament’s website.

Prandi was harder to please: "Today’s game was tough and every set very balanced. We made a few stupid mistakes today, that’s what we have to improve if we want to win in the future."

Prandi’s warnings were not unnecessary, as the match against The Netherlands proved. After taking a two-set lead, careless mistakes by Bulgaria’s players allowed the Dutch back into the match, conceding easy points at the end of the third set. A closely-fought fourth set, however, saw Bulgaria clinch the match by a final scoreline of25-15, 26-24, 21-15, 28-26.

Bulgaria is ranked fourth in the world by the game’s governing body FIVB, but it has a dreadful head-to-head record against Russia, ranked second. Over the past seven years, Bulgaria’s sole win against Russia was at the 2007 World Cup.