Saturday 22 January at 3.30pm
1st semi-final A1 Live on Rai Sport 1
Live streaming on http://www.raisport.rai.it/dl/raisport/multimedia/diretta.html
Itas Diatec Trentino – Sisley Treviso
(Pasquali-Sampaolo)
Matey Kaziyski (Itas Diatec Trentino): “Since I’ve arrived in Trento, Treviso knocked us out of the cup twice. Hopefully, this will be different tomorrow. I haven’t seen the Modena game, I know they have blocked very well. But we always prepare our game very well, we have trained to test this gym and now we are going to study Treviso on video. We are fine, everybody fit, ready to play: and with a tough game ahead of us”.
Samuele Papi (Sisley Treviso): “I don’t believe in past encounters because each game has its own story. We are in good form, we are playing well in the league and we proved it on Wednesday against Modena, in a tight hard-fought game. We know we’ll face a very strong team in the semis, maybe the favourite for the title. The only weapon to win against them is to stay as close as possible, and try to limit their servers. If they call me, I’ll be ready to help the team. There’s not much to think in such game: we train everyday for games like this. These are important for young players like Jiri Kovar and Gabriele Maruotti, this is their first experience in such event. This is the kind that give them a great motivation, which helps to face the game in the best possible way. Mentally, this semi-final won’t be difficult to play: I think Trento has most of the pressure, they are in the situation we were a few years ago when we used to win a lot. We must not start off tense, we have to be motivated and give the best of ourselves: this is the most important thing”.
Saturday 22 January at 6pm
2nd semi-final Live on Rai Sport 1
Diretta streaming su http://www.raisport.rai.it/dl/raisport/multimedia/diretta.html
Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo – Lube Banca Marche Macerata
(Santi-Saltalippi)
Wout Wijsmans (Bre Banca Lannutti Cuneo): “We are ready to play this game and this great event. It’s true, there is a bit of pressure, but a positive one. We’re expecting a tough game, we had this in mind for months, we train with these targets in mind. We are in good shape, ready to go. Before this one, there was the quarter-final well underlined on our schedule: all the games are decisive, you can never underestimate any opponent in this game. On Wednesday, we played against the seventh in the league, it’s true that is can seem easier than facing the third like tomorrow, but we can’t ever afford to lose our focus. We repeat ourselves at each game that we have to work harder, and face each game at a time”.
Valerio Vermiglio (Lube Banca Marche Macerata): “Now that we’re there, we’re ready to go and play a long game, there is a good atmosphere. We’ll face the Italian champs tomorrow, extremely strong team, but it’s nice to make an upset every now and then in sport… We have to start strong: We definitely not had the right attitude on Wednesday when we faced Vibo Valentia, and we struggled at the start. This should not happen tomorrow”.
