Left handed outside hitter Valentina Tirozzi played a superb match to help her team win the CEV Champions League.

During the post match press conference, the 30 year old delivered one of the most powerful quotes ever and that is:

“In volleyball it’s about who plays better, not who has the strongest team.”

Full quote:

“In volleyball it’s about who plays better, not who has the strongest team. I can’t explain how I feel. I have to look at this medal to realise that it’s true. My team is European champion and it was amazing to play this game. We were really focussed on the win and we never gave up. We knew VakifBank were strong but we played better than them today.”

“From tomorrow we will think about the Italian championship because we want to go as far as we can. I am living a lot of first times with my team and it’s an amazing story. I can’t believe it.”

In case you didn’t know, Valentina and her Italian club team Pomì CASALMAGGIORE defeated Vakifbank in straight sets. Vakifbank is the club team of some of the world’s best players like Olympic Champion Sheilla, World Champion Kim Hill, European Champion Milena Rasic, European Championship medalists Anne Buijs, Lonneke Sloetjes, Naz Aydemir Akyol and Gozde Sonsirma. The team is coached by one of the world’s best coaches, Giovanni Guidetti.

Valentina is joined by the Queen of Italian volleyball Francesca Piccinini, Serbian middle blocker & 2015 World Cup silver medalist Jovana Stevanovic, American players Carli Lloyd & Lauren Gibbemeyer and Germany’s volleyball star Maggie Kozuch. The team is coached by one of the best ones as well, Massimo Barbolini.

On paper, Vakifbank looks the STRONGEST but POMI played so much better and committed less errors in the final match of Champions League.

Congrats to both teams! We wish POMI and Vakifbank as they now focus on winning their respective domestic leagues!

IMAGES: CEV.LU