Italy exits in the quarterfinals of EuroVolley 2026: Finland wins 3-2 at PalaVela

Italy's adventure at EuroVolley 2026 stops in Turin and the quarter-finals, Finland goes to the final four in Milan. For De Giorgi's boys it was a huge blow, for PalaVela it was an incredible disappointment: after a two and a half hour marathon the Finns won 3-2 in the tie-break with scores of 21-25, 28-26, 25-16, 20-25, 15-13. At the PalaVela there is the setting for great occasions, the arena is packed with over eight thousand spectators and a takings of almost half a million euros, plus there is also an exceptional parterre with lots of black and white. In fact, a bit of Juve from today and yesterday wanted to bring its own push to Fefè De Giorgi's boys: in the stands there are also the former player and coach Antonio Conte, the current manager Giorgio Chiellini and the footballer Andrea Cambiaso. It's immediately a beautiful Italy, Bottolo uncorks the match with the first point and the Azzurri take a 3-0 lead. Finland still manages not to let De Giorgi's boys escape, Marttila is particularly inspired and manages to score eight points for his team. PalaVela pushes hard and raises the decibels, Italy reaches 22-18 and at the second set point closes the game at 25-21. The match seems to be headed on the blue tracks, but in the second set the inertia changes from the start: Finland puts De Giorgi's team in great difficulty, the Italian block is decidedly weak and the attack only works on alternating current. So Jokela, scorer of ten points, goes wild, but Italy has a jolt just when it was about to collapse. First he cancels the Finnish set point, then he has two in his favor, but in the end Kunnari's boys snatch the 1-1 with the final 28-26. Giannelli and his teammates suffered such a heavy psychological backlash that they actually ended up at 3-10 in the third set.

The match

Finland plays well and gains confidence, Italy gets everything wrong but manages to catch up with the Finns with a four-point deficit. The problem is that the serves become a nightmare, too many balls end up in the net without even reaching the opponent's half of the field and the comeback fails. Indeed, the Northern Europeans manage to have as many as eight set points and score the first with Porro making a mistake in receiving and Tyynisma throwing down the heavy 25-16. It is the most critical and delicate moment of the entire European Championship for De Giorgi's boys, who however return to the pitch with more charged faces and score a comforting 5-2. PalaVela lights up again with Lavia's point, one of the best of the match after a long exchange, and immediately afterwards with Sanguinetti's ace. Italy returns "bad and ugly", the 25-20 postpones the qualification to the fifth set. It starts exactly like the fourth, with the Italians 5-2, but then comes the new collapse: 9-8 scares, 12-13 makes you tremble, 13-15 is the sentence on the end of the European Championship. To challenge France will be the Finland of another Italian, the legend Andrea Giani. On the other side of the scoreboard there are Slovenia, who overcame Belgium with a 3-1 final right under the Mole, and Poland, overwhelming against Germany in Sofia with a clear 3-0.