Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 15, 2015 - The first day of FIVB Wolrd League Finals ended with a thrilling five set game between two European giants. On this Wednesday, Italy won Serbia by 3-2 (25-23, 14-25, 25-23, 20-25, 15-9). The opposite hitter Aleksandar Atanasijevic, from Serbia, was the top scorer of the game with 26 points. For the Italian side Filipo Lanza scored 20".
Dragan Stankovic, Serbia coach - "We knew that they lost four players and had some problems, and the thing that we need to do is to stay focus. We started badly, but we reorganized the team. We came back and played point by point. The second set we putted everything on the right place. And the third set was crucial when we served better, but at the tie-break their serve was much better, with four or five aces and we could not come back."
Nikola Grbic, Serbia capitain - "We did not play as good as we know. We did not play as we were playing the past two months. That was our problem. We had sometimes of lack of concentration and committed some mistakes. When we do not play as well as we can , I am not peaceful. Now we need to beat Poland. There is no other way.
Mauro Berruto, Italy coach - "More than visions I have feelings about this victory. We have too many troubles on the last days. So that was a great signal for the team. The way that we started the match was a great signal. We knew need to fight and we fought. But the beginning and the ending was an expression of our desire to win. And for me this is really great. I think we will be one best memories in my career."
Emanuelle Birarelli, Italy capitain - "We want to be back here in 2016, we have spoken about playing here. It will not be easy to be on the nest year’s Olympics. We are very happy with this victory, Serbia was playing really well, but we managed to overcome them to start with a great result."