Giannelli and Co. take silver after a great fight

National coach Blengini relied on his tried and tested regular formation in the grand final. In addition to the 20-year-old Simone Giannelli from Bolzano, Zaytsev, Lanza, Buti, Colaci, Birarelli and Juantorena were also among the Italian coach's first choice. The Italians came into the final excellently and took the lead 4-1. Although the “Azzurri” held their lead until the middle of the set, Brazil found their way into the game more and more as the game progressed. When the score was 12:11, Blengini's team completely lost track - the Brazilians scored five points and moved ahead to 16:12. The short intermediate sprint was decisive for the first set, which the home team ultimately won 25:22.

Brazilians punish every mistake coldly In the second set, a mirror image of the first half of the game emerged: The Italians were quickly in the front before Brazil hit back towards the middle of the set and took the lead. This time, however, the “Azzurri” didn’t give up and came close again. A constant back and forth developed, which ended with the hosts' next set points. Italy fended off two of them and suddenly had the opportunity to equalize to 1-1. However, it was precisely at this crucial moment that Blengini's troops made avoidable mistakes that did not leave the South Americans unpunished. With their third set ball, Brazil finally made it 2-0. Italy now had his back to the wall. In the third set, where everything was on the line, both teams were on equal terms for a long time. None of the teams were able to pull away; after many leadership changes, it remained exciting until the end. In the finish, the Brazilians were always one point ahead, so that when the score was 24:23 they had their first match point. The bravely fighting “Azzurri” fended off this, but it was over on the second match point: an attack by the Italians was blocked and Brazil won the gold medal with a score of 26:24.

Brazil – Italy 3:0 (25:22, 28:26, 26:24) Brazil: Lucarelli 5, Mauricio Souza 8, Wallace 19, Lipe 12, Lucas 7, Bruno 1, Sergio (L). William, Evandro.

Italy: Birarelli 9, Zaytsev 16, Lanza 4, Buti 2, Giannelli 2, Juantorena 14, Colaci (L). Rossini, Antonov 2, Sottile.

You can read the progress of the game in the live ticker below! [ View the story "Finale Volleyball BRA - ITA" on Storify ]

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Giannelli and Co. take silver after a great fight

Italy's national volleyball team narrowly missed out on Olympic gold. In the final, the “Azzurri” lost 0-3 to Brazil after a tough fight. Despite the defeat, the Italians can look forward to silver.

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