Luxembourg, March 19, 2019. The Italian powerhouse from TRENTINO Itas is only one two sets away from grabbing the trophy in the 2019 CEV Volleyball Cup – Men. On Tuesday the players headed by Angelo Lorenzetti did not give any chances to their opponents from Galatasaray ISTANBUL, winning 3-0 in front of home crowds in BLM Group Arena in Trento in the first leg of the Finals. Taking this much important victory means a greater chance for the Italians to get the gold from this tournament in their third attempt to do so. The CEV Cup is the only trophy still missing in the collection of the reigning club world champions, but in order to bring it home, first they will need to repeat tonight’s success in the away match, scheduled for next Tuesday.

TRENTINO Itas (ITA) vs Galatasaray ISTANBUL (TUR) 3-0 (25-15, 25-15, 25-20)

 
•    TRENTINO Itas took the most out of the home-court advantage in tonight’s match, which was one of the most important international events for the club.
•    The reigning club world champions won in three straight sets and should they grab the title next week, this will be their ninth overall international trophy.
•    The yellow-blues will need to win only two more sets in the away match from this Final series in order to become champions in the tournament.
•    The match lasted only 69 minutes and winning it means a good advantage for the Italians.
•    The team coached by Angelo Lorenzetti seized this important victory thanks to an impressive performance in all aspects of the game. The hosts showed aggressive and convincing play, remaining focused from start to end. Their high level of determination was the key to success.
•    From the very first moment of the match, Galatasaray had difficulties to react properly on the opponent’s excellent performance from the serving line.
•    TRENTINO’s spikers did very well on high balls. Luca Vettori and Uros Kovacevic scored 12 points each (69% and 52% in attack respectively).
•    Setter Simone Giannelli gave out his best on the court, being “on fire” and thus, deservedly was named MVP of the matchup.  

Angelo Lorenzetti, head coach of TRENTINO Itas: “We played a convincing match from every single point of view. However, our recent experience in this tournament teaches us that the game can always be tied. A very different match could take place in Turkey in seven days, so we will see. Galatasaray had a lot of troubles tonight – their players were very tired after the national cup final on Sunday. I would like to congratulate my team on how they performed, I’m happy but we still have much work to do.”

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