Trento, 23 March 2021

Champions League, on Wednesday second round match in Perugia (8.30 pm)

Second round match of semifinal of 2021 CEV Champions League is scheduled for Wednesday 23rd march at PalaBarton in Perugia- it will be last match before the finals in Verona (1st May). Trentino Itas will play against Sir Sicoma Monini (defeated 3-0 during first round match) and try to gain the qualification.  Starting whistle schedule for 8.30 pm, live on RAI Sport + (channel 58), Sky Sport Uno, Radio Dolomiti and on www.eurovolley.tv.
HERE TRENTINO ITAS after the promising result achieved 6 days ago at BLM Group Arena, gialloblù team will go to Umbria and try to gain the pass for the final match of Champions League (last time was 5 years ago, in Crakow on 16th April 2016).
“First round match was the first leap, but we clearly know that we need to do more leaps if we want to win also this one – explained coach Angelo Lorenzetti - . If we look at the past matches of Champions League we can see that the team playing on its home field can definitely change the result, so we’ll go there and pay attention if we want to confirm what we’ve achieved last Thursday. It will be very important not doing any errors at serve nor in reception, these fundamentals let us win fist match, but we know that Perugia is particularity good at it. We have to be ready to play one or even two matches that night”.
During the season in Champions League, Itas Trentino achieved 12 consecutive victories (well, 13 considering also the success decided without playing in Friedrichshafen , last 11th February) and 24 out of last 26 matches played. The team arrived in Perugia this afternoon, they will train tonight; for this important occasion all 13 players  are there, but not Pol (who played as libero during last 3 matches of Champions League).
TRENTINO VOLLEY’S MATCHES PLAYED IN EUROPA this is the 6th semifinal achieved out of 10 participations in Champions League: previous five were during season 2009, 2010, 2011 (all concluded with the victory of the trophy), in 2012 (3rd place) and in 2016 (second place), but all these matches were single round. The only double round semifinal in European tournament played by Itas Trentino were during CEV Cup: edition 2015 (3-2 and 3-1 against Kedzierzyn-Kozle), 2017 (3-0 and 2-3 against Fenerbahce) and 2019 (3-0 and 3-1 against Olympiacos). Considering all European matches, Trentino Volley played 142 official competitions: winning 116 times (59 in Trento, 57 on away field), being defeated 26 times (20 in Champions League, 5 in CEV and 1 in Top Teams Cup). The most frequent result was 3-0 (50% of the matches) - 71 matches, 42 on home field; only 5 times have they been defeated 0-3.
OPPONENT TEAM the success achieved Sunday night during 3rd match of the quarter finals of Play Off Scudetto, against Milano at PalaBarton, allowed Sir Sicoma Monini begin properly such an important week. On Wednesday night another important match, at European level, that will open or close the door for the team’s second participation to the final match of Champions League. Since the team begun taking part to it (in 2017), it has always achieved to qualify to the semifinals. Block Devils, playing on home filed, will have the opportunity to change the result of first round match, as it happened during quarter finals against Modena. On its home field, the team won 12 matches of 15 played at European level.   
TRENTINO ITAS QUALIFIES TO THE FINALS, ONLY IF... Itas will get the pass for the finals only if it manages to win at least 2 sets of Wednesday’s match; thanks to the victory 3-0 achieved during first round match at BLM Group Arena gialloblù could lose at tie break and still avoid to play the golden set; a set that will be played only if Perugia will win 4 sets.
THE OTHER SEMIFINAL MATCH the match scheduled for Thursday will be valid as second round match of the seminal of 2021 CEV Champions League; on Wednesday night will be revealed the names of the teams that will play the final match at AGSM Forum in Verona on 1st May.  The team that obtains the highest number of points during the double match will qualify for the most important match of the season; the points are assigned as well as in Championship:  3 for a victory 3-0 or 3-1, 2 for a victory at tie break, 1 for the defeat at tie break. The other teams playing the semifinal match are Grupa Azoty Kedzierzyn-Kozle-Zenit Kazan, the match is scheduled for Wednesday at 6pm (during first round match the Polish team won)  
PREVIOUS MATCHES Trentino Volley and Sir Safety Perugia have already played 38 times, gialloblù won 20 matches; during this season the result is equal (2 matches each); in addition to 3-0 achieved on 18th March (the sets 25-21, 25-16, 25-23), Trento won also the match on 3rd January, at PalaBarton (victory 3-1, the sets 25-20, 23-25, 25-19, 25-19), while Perugia won 1-3 on 18th October at BLM Group Arena (the sets 25-17, 22-25, 17-25, 25-27) and on 3oth January in Bologna during semifinal of Coppa Italia, 3-0 and the sets 19-25, 14-25, 17-25. In total, Trenino Volley won 5 out of 15 matches played at PalaBarton.
THE REFEREES the match will be directed by the Polish Wojciech Maroszek, main referee in Katowice and by Milan Rajkovic, second referee in Rijeka (Croazia). Both have already directed many matches with Trentino Volley: Maroszek did it 3 times ( during Mondiale per Club 2018, including the Final match won 3-1 against Lube on 2nd December 2018) and Rajkovic directed 4 times, 2 during this season (double 3-0 against Londra and Novi Sad between 29th September and 1st October).
TV, RADIO AND INTERNET  The event will be very important at a worldwide level, for this reason it will be broadcast on any media. On TV it will be broadcast live on RAI Sport +, on channel 58 and commented by Maurizio Colantoni and Fabio Vullo. It will be possible to watch it in streaming at  www.raisport.rai.it/dl/raisport/multimedia/diretta.html. Or on TV live on Sky Sport Uno, also visible on the on-line platforms Sky or on any device thanks to the app "SkyGo” (paying service). Commented by Stefano Locatelli and Andrea Zorzi.
It will also be broadcast on Radio Dolomiti, media partner of Trentino Volley, starting from 8.30 pm. Radio frequencies can be found on the website www.radiodolomiti.com, there it will also be possible to listen to the chronicle live.
It will be possible to watch the match streaming on “EuroVolleyTv” www.eurovolley.tv - paying service. Further information www.eurovolley.tv/en-int/page/pricing-and-faq.
On Internet, the updates point to point on CEV website (https://cevlive.cev.eu/DV_LiveScore.aspx?ID=40615), on www.trentinovolley.it and on social media of Itas.

Trentino Volley Srl
Press Office