Paolo Porro tells us how Milan is falling in love with volleyball

While Itas Trentino is ahead 2-1 over Lube Civitanova in the series that counts for the volleyball Superlega championship final, with game 4 which takes place tonight at the Eurosuole Forum in Civitanova Marche, Gas Blue Sales Piacenza clearly won the third-place series against Allianz Milano in three games, and consequently conquered the third step of the podium which is worth qualifying for next year’s Champions League. Piacenza clearly won against Milan (3-0, 0-3 and 3-0), which had also been the team that had surprised most of all in the playoffs, eliminating Sir Safety Perugia, and coming close to a second feat in the semifinal against Civitanova . Despite the defeat and the fourth place finish, which will give Milan access to an unforeseen event – ​​as coach Roberto Piazza himself underlined – the Cev Cup, the second most important European competition, the Milanese team’s journey went well beyond what could have been expected, with some protagonists who definitely shined in the games that mattered.

Il Foglio had a chat with Paolo Porro, setter born in 2001, pivot of the Milan game and author of an excellent season. “We had a regular season that was difficult for everyone, because the championship has never been as contested as this year. There were very little predictable results, in fact the ranking behind the leaders Perugia was very short and in the playoffs everyone wanted to prove something more. It is no coincidence that we almost always went to the fifth game ”he told us about the championship that is drawing to a close.

Allianz Milano, as mentioned, obtained an unexpected result by eliminating the unbeaten Perugia in the quarter-finals and even more unexpected would have been a possible championship final with the elimination of Civitanova, then winner and finalist, but against Piacenza it is as if it were missed the very blunt and effective game shown in this last phase. Roberto Piazza, after the defeat in game two of the final for third place, said that it was as if he were lacking “the awareness that he was playing special matches”, which instead had been there previously. Regarding the matches against Piacenza, Porro told us that “they certainly put more quality on the pitch than us and that game that has distinguished us until now was missing. Some Piacenza players are very experienced, they have been able to seize the most important opportunities and take the game home. After the quarterfinals and semifinals extended into game five we were both a bit unloaded and that’s where quality comes into play”.

Paolo Porro played in a constantly growing play-off phase, and like him Yuki Ishikawa, Augustìn Loser and Jean Patry, of whom it was said more than once that the reigning Olympic champion Patry “returned” in the games that mattered. Porro has proven to be a rather quick and unpredictable player, that is, as a setter, a player good at serving his fellow attackers so that the opposing defense does not have time to position himself against the block effectively.

So we ask him what was the key, or at least one of the keys, to the excellent playoff games and Porro replies: “There are teams with exceptional rosters, we have often compensated with nastiness, with teamwork, and with lots of group. We got the right feeling which is the most important thing, especially when you play every two or three days, and I was sure I could give a certain ball without getting into too many problems. Each playoff game becomes training for the next game, training at a certain point is above all mental recovery”.

For Porro, the elimination in the semifinal against Lube, he tells us, was a real “punch in the stomach” both because Milan was leading by two sets to one in a hard-fought game four, i.e. a handful of points would have been enough to win, awareness that maximizes regret and remorse for individual mistakes, and because the match in question was played in Milan. It was the first ever semi-final for the new club, “Milan is a city that deserves all of this” says the setter, recalling the numerous sold-out matches at the Allianz Cloud during the season, “in my opinion we made the passion return. Obviously the public is passionate if you win and show that you are putting your heart into it. We created that succession of emotions which then led us to play for access to a Scudetto final and the public to continue sold out. We have given emotions to them and they to us”.

Next year Porro will play again in Milan and when we ask him what goals he sets for himself, he replies, with a mix of awareness and contempt for the words of circumstance, that this year playing in a semi-final was a dream and that they were aware there were formations much better equipped, but the goal is there and it is always to do better than the year before.