Sebastián Solé and Luciano De Cecco after winning bronze at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics with the Argentine team. Photo by Reuters
Almost nine months ago, Luciano De Cecco and Sebastian Sole | Together they celebrated a major conquest of the Argentina National Team: the olympic bronze of Tokyo 2020, the second medal in volleyball history in a Game, after the memorable one of the same color won in Seoul in 1988. Starting this Sunday, the two Olympic medalists will face off again on a court, although this time they will be on either side of the net. Because they will dispute with their respective teams the final of Italian Super Leagueone of the most important club tournaments in the world, at a crossroads with a lot of recent history and the new precedent of last season’s definition, they already have protagonists with the same shirts.
De Cecco will be looking for his second consecutive trophy along Lube Civitanovathat after starting 0-2 down against very hard Trentino, rotated the semifinal series and reached the decision for the eighth time. On Wednesday, he sealed the game 3-2 with wins 27-29, 25-21, 21-25, 25-15 and 15-11 (3-2) and a great performance by the Santa Fe point guard, who selected MVP (Most Valuable Player) of the match.
Solé-who will announce his retirement from the Argentina national team soon after this season to become Italian-wants revenge for the defeat he suffered in the last edition of the tournament with perogiawho at the close of his semis won 19-25, 25-20, 27-25 and 25-15 (3-1) in modern, with seven points from central Rosario. So, he sentenced a close series 3-2 and advanced to his seventh final.
De Cecco was a key figure for Lube in the semis against Trentino. Photo www.legavolley.it
The rivalry between Lube and Perugia has become one of the most fascinating clashes in Italian volleyball in recent years and a classic in the finals of the most important championship in that country.
Nasa Italian Cupsecond competition behind the Superliga, for example, collided for the title in four consecutive editions between the 2017/18 and 2020/21 seasons, with two wins per side. Twice they also specified Super Cup, which brings together the best of the first two tournaments. It was in 2017 and 2020, both times with success for Perugia.
Nasa super league They will now play in the fourth consecutive final between them. Perugia, with De Cecco on the pitch, won 3-2 in the 2017/18 edition. It was the first title of that tournament for the Santa Fe player and the first and only for the team from the Umbria region, which that season also won the Italian Cup and climbed to third place on the podium in Champions League.
Solé will be seeking his second Super League title. Photo on Twitter @SIRVolleyPG
The following year, the victory went to Lube, who also won the final series by 3-2, and De Cecco was left wanting to add his second. shield.
In April 2020, after the cancellation of the 2019/20 Super League playoffs due to pandemic (no champion), De Cecco changed his shirt and signed a contract with Lube, who won the Champions League in 2019. Soon after, he announced Perugia is the arrival of Solé, who played in the unfinished championship Verona.
Last season, the two teams dominated the regular season and clashed again in a very special final for Argentine volleyball, which De Cecco once again celebrated. Furthermore, he scored a decisive point to seal the win in the fourth point of the series, which Lube won 3-1.
Perugia and Lube are again the best teams in the regular stage of the current championship. Solé’s club led with 67 points and a record of 22 wins and two losses. He swept the quarterfinals 2-0 Top Volleyball and in the semis, by 3 to 2 in Moderna.
De Cecco joined him at the table with 57 units and a 19-5 mark. He won 2-0 against Monza in the first round of the playoffs and defeated Trentino 3-2.
Therefore, they will face each other again in the final, where the owner will seek to repeat the celebration of the last championship and lift the trophy for the third time. Meanwhile, the center-back will go for his second crown in the most important competition in Italy. He won first in 2015, along with the shirt of Trentinoafter beating Moderna 3-1 in the defining match.
It is worth remembering that when the Italian competition is over, De Cecco will join the Argentine team that will start work from Monday at CeNARD before the League of Nations and the World Cup in Poland/Slovenia. Solé, for his part, lowered the curtain on his time on the national team after Tokyo. “I want my family to enjoy it more,” he said. After confirming his retirement, Rosario also took Italian citizenship, so as not to occupy a foreign quota at his club. And, as FIVB rules indicate, if he plays in Italy with an Italian passport, he will no longer be able to wear light blue and white.
Before the euphoria, there was regret in the two for the semifinal loss against France, in Tokyo 2020. Photo: YURI CORTEZ / AFP.
The final series will be played in the best of five games. Perugia, for finishing a better position in the regular stage, will start with home advantage and will receive Lube in the first duel, this Sunday, from 6:00 pm local time (1:00 pm in our country), sa Pala Barton.
The second match will be played on Eurosuole Forum of Civitanova, on Wednesday, May 4 at 8:30 pm in Italy. The action returns to Perugia, where they will clash again on Sunday 8 at 6 p.m. And if necessary, the fourth and fifth points will be played, on Wednesday 11 at 8:30 pm at Lube’s house and on Sunday 15 at 6 pm. Perugia, respectively.
This will be a new chapter in one of the most compelling duel in Italian volleyball in recent years. And a final with a special taste for the Argentine sport, because whoever wins, there will be a light blue and white representative of the best in one of the most important championships of this sport in the world.
Source: Clarin
