Giannelli: We need to think about how to show our game, not only how to stop ZAKSA

Simone Giannelli is an example on and off the Volleyball court. Having started his professional Volleyball journey in TRENTINO Itas back in 2013, he remains true to the idea of building a career in your first club that. Only 24 years old, Giannelli - a star of Italian and world Volleyball, has been TRENTINO’s captain since 2018. For these seven seasons with Trentino, Simone has played in 314 matches for the team, scoring 1080 points in total. On May 1, he will lead the team of his heart towards the much desired #CLVolleyM trophy. In what will be a second final of Europe’s elite competition for Simone, TRENTINO Itas, coached by the Italian specialist Angelo Lorenzetti, will try to reach Europe’s club Volleyball peak for a first time since 2011.

In 2016, Giannelli was considered a rising star of Volleyball, receiving the Best Setter award in the #CLVolleyM final vs Zenit Kazan. Five years later, he has met the expectations, and leader on the field, will be entering the #SuperFinals court excited to show his best. The feeling of playing such a match, admits Simone, is always a good one. “In addition, I am even more motivated because there is the will to redeem the defeat from Kazan in the Final in Kraków.” Simone is not interested in grabbing another individual prize.

After missing from the #CLVolleyM podium for five years, TRENTINO’s fans are now happy that their team is back, fighting for the trophy of Europe’s elite competition. However, Simone does not see any motifs to compare the roster that “was in the battle” in 2016 and the present one. “We are a very different team than before, and it would be wrong to make comparisons. We are convinced of our capabilities, and I am sure that we will prove it in Verona by trying to play our best Volleyball. This is a unique opportunity to try closing in the best possible way a long, difficult, but also full of satisfactions season. Our path in the tournament was very long; we started from the preliminary rounds, and now we see the finish line"

A challenge, called Grupa Azoty Zaksa KĘDZIERZYN KOŹLE, is expecting Simone&co at this finish line. The Polish team, coached by the former setter of TRENTINO Nikola Grbic, eliminated two of the biggest giants of European Volleyball - Cucine Lube CIVITANOVA and Zenit KAZAN, on their way to the #SuperFinal. “Kedzierzyn-Kozle is a great team and did not arrive in the Final in Verona by chance. They play a great Volleyball, very harmonious, and they work well as a group. To emerge victorious in this case, we will need to play aggressively on the field, and in all the components; we will have to show mental resilience and strength, too. This is the way it should be, we are talking here about the Champions League Final, the most difficult and much anticipated match of the year”.

TRENTINO count on the best scorer of the #CLVolleyM so far, Nimir Abdel Aziz, but Giannelli and his teammates will have another goal on May 1, looking for ways on how to stop the second- the best scorer, Kamil Semeniuk. “We will have to try limiting his power using our wall-defence system. However, stopping just one player will not be enough because our opponents are all strong. We have the qualities to play them in every aspect of the game.”

Simone is sure that the #SuperFinal will be a great show to follow online. “Not many words are needed here: it will be a beautiful match and I hope it can be seen by many people in front of the TV, smartphones, laptops etc., given the fact that there will be no public in Verona.”