Imagine a hot Saturday evening in June, a trip by car and a violent downpour on the outskirts of Milan. It almost seems like the beginning of a novel, but instead it is the story of the precise moment in which we got in touch with Gianlorenzo “Chicco” Blengini, former Azzurri and Lube Civitanova coach, current coach of the Bulgarian national team. Having returned to Italy a few hours ago at the end of the VNL, Blengini is traveling by car home and, just outside Milan, the road is flooded by a violent storm. Our call comes when he is stopped under an overpass together with other unfortunate people, waiting for the storm to reduce its intensity and allow him to continue the hour of travel that he still needs to reach his Turin.
We take the opportunity, given his great friendliness, to ask him a few things about the Yuasa Battery in the near future. Paths have crossed several times in recent years between Blengini and Grottazzolina, in the numerous summer friendlies played when he was on the bench of Lube Civitanova. Just so as not to go too far back in time, the last four years (from 2021), after he was coach of the Italian men’s national team for six seasons.
Blengini rejoices as coach of the Bulgarian national team (source VBTV)
Our first questions obviously go to the latest arrival, the Bulgarian spiker born in 2003 Georgi Tatarov, about whom Blengini gets straight to the point: “Georgi played 12 matches with me in VNL, I think he was absolutely one of the most employed young people, given that I have always put it on the field. He is certainly among those who have shown the fastest improvements, and this is inevitably the result of his great maturity. He has an aptitude for work and commitment, uncommon for a boy of his age, and these qualities combined with great elevation and gaming intelligence mean that if he were to continue on the path he has taken he could become a truly important player. He’s very serious, he fits well in a group. He is courageous, ambitious, but also very well disposed towards others, so much so that he relates with great maturity even towards older people, like me who are of a different generation from his”.
