Trento, 05 March 2021

Champions League, notes and statistical curiosities in view of the semifinal with Perugia

Some statistics and curiosities emerged after qualifying for the semifinal of 2021 CEV Champions League of Trentino Volley.

FROM THE PRELIMINARY STAGE TO THE SEMIFINAL. The tenth participation in the maximum continental tournament for Trentino Volley Club is proving to be one of the longest runs on the international field ever. The company from via Trener in this European adventure has already played eleven games, taking into account that the tournament has already started in September and has seen Giannelli and his teammates protagonists of two preliminary qualifying rounds before the Main Phase. The singular circumstance is due to the fact that Trentino Itas took part in the event thanks to a wild card granted by the CEV and not for sporting merits, given that for the purposes of qualification the classification of the Italian championship 2019/20 was valid at the time of the start of the lockdown (with Civitanova, Modena and Perugia then ahead of Trento). Lorenzetti's team is the only one to have hit the qualification in the semifinal starting from the preliminary rounds and is the only team still undefeated in this edition of the event together with Kazan (which, however, only played eight matches).

FIRST "DOUBLE SEMIFINAL" OF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE. The double success against Berlin guaranteed the qualification for the sixth semi-final of the Champions League in the history of Trentino Volley. Unlike the previous five, in this case, the penultimate act of the tournament will consist of a double confrontation (home match, away match) and not a single match to be played on a neutral field during a Final Four. The challenge with Perugia will therefore be unprecedented also from this point of view. The Club of via Trener has, among other things, a particular connection with the semi-final, having managed to pass the round and therefore qualify for the final in four of the previous five circumstances: 2009 edition (3-0 on Macerata at Prague), 2010 (3-1 over Bled in Lodz), 2011 (3-0 over Jastrzebski) and 2016 (3-0 over Civitanova). The only knockout is relative to 2012 (1-3 with Kazan). The double-round semifinals played in European competitions by Trentino Volley are those referring to participation in the CEV Cup: 2015 edition (3-2 and 3-1 on Kedzierzyn-Kozle), 2017 (3-0 and 2-3 on Fenerbahce) and 2019 (3-0 and 3-1 over Olympiacos).

THIRD ITALIAN DERBY IN THE SEMIFINAL. In two of the five previous Champions League semi-finals, Trentino Volley had already played an Italian derby and in both cases against Lube: April 4, 2009 in Prague (Czech Republic, success in three sets at the O2 Arena) and April 16, 2016 in Krakow (Poland, 3-0 win at Tauron Arena).

THE NUMBERS IN EUROPEAN CUPS. This is the tenth ever participation of Trentino Volley in the CEV Champions League, the fifteenth overall in the European field. The company of via Trener in fact participated during the 2004/05 season without too much luck first in the Top Teams Cup (where it was eliminated by the Dutch OrtecNesselande Rotterdam in the preliminary phase played at PalaTrento) and then in the CEV Cup, trophy won in 2019 and also characterized by two finals lost at the golden set (in 2015 with Moscow, in 2017 with Tours). Taking into account all the European competitions played, Trentino Volley has so far entered the field for 141 official matches: the balance is 115 victories (58 in Trento, 57 away) and 26 defeats (20 in the Champions League, 5 in CEV and 1 in Top Teams Cup). The most frequently obtained result is 3-0 victory, recurring in 49.6% of cases (70 games, 41 of these home games); the one that has occurred the least number of times is 0-3 defeat (five times).

MIDDLE-BLOCKERS ... IN THE OPPOSITE FIELDS. The only players still present in the current Trentino Volley squad who also played in the previous and last semi-final of the Champions League, on April 16, 2016 in Krakow, are the libero Carlo De Angelis and Captain Simone Giannelli. However, Sebastian Solé was also at the center of the net, who from 17 March will be on the other side of the net wearing the Perugia jersey; exactly the opposite of what will happen to Podrascanin, which in 2016 wore the Cucine Lube jersey, 3-0 victory for the giallo-blù team on that occasion.

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office