CONEGLIANO – The last match that closes the championship accounts in 2025 proved to be a real litmus test of the second part of the Prosecco Doc season. A period that brought out some difficulties for Daniele Santarelli’s team. If last season the panthers had rightfully entered the Olympus of world volleyball, this year the yellow and blue team, despite limiting defeats (3 in 25 matches considering all competitions), saw two of these stops cost as many trophies. A script that fuels what seems to be the “curse” of trophy number 30, always touched but never won. Commenting on the team’s moment, after the defeat against Milan, is co-president Pietro Maschio, who is also busy in recent days on the transfer front.
Male, in Saturday’s match were there more demerits of yours or merits of Milan?
«The credit always goes to those who win. We started carefully and then made some mistakes which have been happening to us often lately and which we are working on. It will take time to be more efficient.”
When we talk about errors, are those from 9 meters also included in the topic?
«More than the batting errors, the lack of incisiveness. We batted too easily and therefore made Milan’s job easier. We must be more incisive in that fundamental to be able to create and defend more.”
Did the busy schedule that has seen you play practically all the time in these two and a half months have an impact on the latest defeat?
«Definitely yes, we have been coming for three months where we have played every three days non-stop. We went to Brazil at 30 degrees where we played 5 games in 6 days, we came back and had to go to Cuneo. We never stopped, if everything went well these matches wouldn’t be a burden. But if there is something to fix there is little time left to work and in January we will have more.”
These days we are talking about a renewal of Gabi which is in the pipeline, what can you say?
“Right now I’m not talking about the market.”
Since Saturday evening, many fans, or presumed fans, have been talking and writing on social media about the end of a cycle.
«The fact of having many fans is certainly a good thing, obviously then when there are more difficult moments all the comments come out, even less pleasant ones. We will need them to better select people for the future because I have noted some names.”
Despite the three defeats in this final part of the season, 2025 will remain in the history of Prosecco Doc. Is the balance positive?
«Absolutely yes, in recent years we have won an impressive amount of trophies, in the last part of 2025 we lost 2 finals, but if we look at the most successful clubs in history, how many finals have they lost? It’s part of the game, there’s nothing alarming. We hope to be able to win again as soon as possible.”
Fahr said: “We need to find another way to bring home the results.” Where can you find this way?
«There is no other way, we need to be more careful and precise, I don’t think the level of the Italian championship has risen. We are the ones who are not performing as well as last year at this moment. The level of the Italian championship is very high but always the same level. Last year everything was going well for us, but now there are also some bad days, which is normal. The fact of going to Milan and losing is absolutely normal because they are a great team. The fact that last year we won all the matches against all the opponents is not something to be taken for granted. The other teams were not built to watch us win, but to compete.”
A final message to the fans?
«I remind everyone, if necessary, that it is the first defeat of the regular season and we are first in the standings with a 3 point advantage, I don’t see any drama. Nobody likes to lose but we need to have a little more balance in our comments.”
