Finland end 13-year wait for Euro quarter-final after beating Greece in five sets

[p]It's the first time since 2013 that [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/finland/xWtY0ri6/"]Finland[/a] have reached the last eight of the European Championship, and their opponents on 23rd September will be hosts [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/italy/KYAO21L5/"]Italy[/a], who cruised past [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/denmark/UPXrPaV6/"]Denmark[/a] 3-0 in their first knockout stage match.[/p][p]Finland's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/volleyball/finland-xWtY0ri6/greece-jZpx026C/?mid=GKqk3qt3"]Round of 16 match[/a] was something of a banana skin - [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/greece/jZpx026C/"]Greece[/a] lost their first two matches in Group A before a trio of 3-1 wins sealed third place and a strong run of form, while the Finns - playing their Group C matches at home in Helsinki - won their first four but came into this on the back of a defeat to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/estonia/jk1i2HHl/"]Estonia[/a] which cost them first place.[/p][p]And the match appeared to be going with the recent form in the first set as Greece went 5-1 up before holding a biggest lead of 15-7, and though Finland rallied to cut the gap to 21-20, [b]Greece got themselves over the line to take it, 25-22.[/b][/p][p]But Finland took control of the second set early on and stayed in control, putting together [b]two 3-0 and one 4-0 run en route to a 25-16 set win[/b]. However, Greece responded again in the third, winning the first point and staying in front throughout, [b]though never leading by more than four, but that was more than enough in their second 25-22 success.[/b][/p][embed guid="681ecff4-2a0d-488b-846a-feeb80e4eeba" url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dM2T1IIEWa4" social-type="youtube" /][p]Finland therefore needed back-to-back set wins to stay in the tournament, and after the lead changed hands regularly before a 12-12 score in the fourth, a 4-1 run looked to have given the northern side the edge, but Greece came back, and the sides were level again at 18-, 19- and 20-all.[/p][p]Greece looked to have taken a crucial 23-22 lead, only for [b]Finland to pull together when it mattered most, winning three points in a row to win 25-23[/b] and take the match to a decider.[/p][p]From 7-4 ahead, Finland let the lead slip and the teams were level at 7-7. The sides were level again a further five times, but the Finns never fell behind, and from 13-13, [b]they picked up the two points they needed to reach the quarter-finals, as a Greek block on match point sailed out of bounds to start the celebrations.[/b] The [i]Veljekset [/i]are now one win away from equalling their best finish of fourth, set in 2007.[/p][p][b][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/volleyball/europe/european-championships/"]Follow the 2026 European Volleyball Championship on Flashscore.[/a][/b][/p]