Florence, Italy, September 13, 2018 – Italy stormed to a comprehensive 3-0 victory in their matchup with Belgium, thus making amends for the heavy 0-3 loss they suffered to the Red Dragons in the quarterfinals of last year’s European Championship.
Andrea Anastasi, head coach of Belgium: “There was not even a match! At this moment, Italy are definitely stronger than us. We were not able to play at their level. The lack of experience on the international stage does not help us. They are a number one team.”
Sam Deroo, captain of Belgium: “Today Italy was far better than us; they played really good, especially in the break point phase. I have never seen their defence working like this before. They very much deserved this victory; we can make progress for the rest of the tournament to cause difficulties to some of the other strong teams that we will be playing in the next days.”
Ivan Zaytsev, captain of Italy: “It was a great game, with great supporters! We were able to play as we planned to do, meaning with high rhythm so that we put them under pressure. We were concentrated and determined, and now we cannot relax, since our thoughts are already on Argentina. We lost our last match with them and therefore we are looking for another revenge.”
Gianlorenzo Blengini, Italy head coach: “We played a very good game, not just because of the positive result. Technically, we sorted out the problems we faced at the beginning against their float serve. Whenever Belgium tried to create difficulties for us, we were able to answer properly. We know that every match is a different story, and the next will be different; now, for the last five minutes already, we have been focusing on Argentina.”