Lausanne, Switzerland, June 8, 2018 - Italy need to return to their winning ways after suffering two defeats in a row and three in their last four matches, when they take on Bulgaria Saturday in Osaka for the 2018 FIVB Volleyball Nations League. Italy lead the overall series against Bulgaria 18-15 at world level, including the bronze medal match of the London 2012 Olympic Games. Bulgaria have not beaten Italy since the preliminary round of London 2012 in a world competition.
Head-to-Head
• Italy have won 18 of their 33 matches against Bulgaria in world level major competitions.
• World level major competitions are: the VNL, Olympic Games, World Championships, World Cup, World League and Grand Champions Cup.
• Italy have won their last three world level major tournament matches against: 3-1 in the bronze-medal match at the London 2012 Olympic Games and 3-1 (group stage) and 3-2 (third-place play-off) at the 2013 World League.
• The last time Italy won more world level major matches against Bulgaria in a row was between 1996 and 2004 (5 consecutive matches).
• Bulgaria's last victory over Italy was a straight set victory in the preliminary round of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
• Four of Bulgaria's last five victories over Italy came in straight sets, with the exception of the 3-2 win at the 2006 world championship.
Italy
• Italy started the 2018 VNL with three victories, but have now lost three of their last four matches including their last two.
• Italy could suffer three consecutive defeats at world level major tournaments for the first time since June-September 2017, when they lost their final two matches at the 2017 World League and their first at the Grand Champions Cup.
• On Friday, Italy suffered their first five-sets defeat at the VNL against Poland. They came back from trailing one set twice, but still lost the last set 15-10.
• Gabriele Nelli scored a match-high 25 points in the defeat against Poland.
• Ivan Zaytsev is still Italy's top scorer in the 2018 VNL on 121 points, but he has been left out of the Italian squad for their trip to Japan.
Bulgaria
• Bulgaria started their third week in the VNL with a 3-0 win over hosts Japan, bringing their record to three wins and four defeats.
• Bulgaria could record straight-sets wins in consecutive world level major tournament matches for the first time since the 2013 World League, when they beat France and Argentina 3-0.
• Bulgaria have won each of their last six world level major competition matches in which they won the first set.
• Bulgaria have lost both previous VNL matches against fellow European sides: 3-2 against Serbia, 3-0 v Russia.
• Nikolay Uchikov scored a match-high 16 points in the victory over Japan to bring his total VNL points to 105.