Brazil, Italy, Netherlands stars looking forward to VNL Manila

Ricardo Lucarelli has received a lot of love from Filipino fans on social media. —VOLLEYBALL
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OTTAWA, CANADA—Fresh from their stint in Week 1 of the Volleyball Nations League (VNL) here, Brazilian volleyball stars Bruno Rezende and Ricardo Lucarelli, Italian spiker Mattia Bottolo and Dutch ace Nimir Abdel-Aziz expressed their excitement to play in Manila for Week 3 of VNL.

The Brazilian duo of Rezende and Lucarelli helped stir their team to a 3-1 record to start their VNL campaign on a high note.

“Our goal is to try to win all the games. We were not able to do that this week, but we’re still happy because the game we lost (against Cuba) was when we fought a lot. I’m happy with the way we fought (against USA) to get our third win,” Lucarelli told the Inquirer.

The Rio Olympic gold medalists hope to build on to this momentum and improve the team’s standing in upcoming legs, including the one in Manila which they both look forward to after seeing fans’ support on social media.

“I have received a lot of messages from Filipino fans so I hope that in [Manila Leg] the crowd will be there. I hope to see all of them in the games,” said Lucarelli after their four-set win against Team USA.

Rezende echoed this excitement and called on fans to support Brazil as they play for the first time in the Philippines, saying: “I can’t wait to see [the fans] in Manila when we play there. I hope they will be there in all our matches.”

Younger squad

Meanwhile, Bottolo is thrilled to return to Manila after experiencing the support of the Filipino crowd in last year’s VNL.

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to be there because the coaches choose the lineup, but I will be very happy to play there again. It’s always special to play in Manila,” Bottolo said.

The 23-year-old outside hitter, who currently plays for Cucine Lube Civitanova in Italian SuperLega, recalled the immense support he got during VNL Manila last year: “The people there gave me a lot of cheers and love. As a player, I love seeing people so [passionate] about volleyball.”

After fielding in a relatively younger squad, the reigning World Champions finished with a 2-2 win-loss record in Week 1 of the VNL.

“We have different players for [Week 1] of VNL and each match is a step for us to keep growing so our wins mean a lot to us,” Bottolo said.

Avoiding relegation

As for the Dutch opposite, Abdel-Aziz is looking forward to experiencing again the atmosphere that the Filipino crowd gives off in every match.

“We are happy to come back to the Philippines because it was nice last year. I hope it’s going to be the same this year,” he said.

Abdel-Aziz led the Netherlands to win two out of their four matches in Week 1, which established their standing in the middle of the pack as they try to avoid being relegated in next year’s VNL for being a challenger team.

“We will continue to fight even if we make some mistakes and we took two wins so it’s nice,” the Dutch skipper said.

Ahead of their matches in the Philippines, Brazil will see the action first in Orléans, France, while Italy and the Netherlands will face off in Rotterdam for Week 2 of VNL before they all fly to Manila along with Japan, Canada, Slovenia, China and Poland.

All games of VNL Manila will be held at Mall of Asia Arena, Pasay City from July 4 to July 9, 2023. —Contributed INQ Ricardo Lucarelli has received a lot of love from Filipino fans on social media. —CONTRIBUTED