In Brussels this afternoon, the four coaches and captains of the semi-finalists addressed the press. The top four of the European Championships: Italy, the Netherlands, Serbia and Türkiye.

Türkiye and Italy spoke first. The mutual respect between the two top nations is great. Santarelli (TUR) put it as follows: "It is an honour to compete against my teacher. Besides, there are also some players from my club on the opposite side, which makes it extra special."

Sylla, the Italian captain, looks at the match in a different way. "We want to relive our 2021 title again. But for that, we first have to beat one of the best teams of the moment. In the first phase of this tournament, we already had a lot of fun on the pitch. That might be the key to success in the semi-finals."

The second semi-final will be between Serbia and the Netherlands. Dijkema is eagerly looking forward to the semi-final against world champion Serbia. "We have played each other several times before. It is always special to take on the world champion. Within the team, we are already hoping that a lot of fans will make the crossing to Brussels to cheer us on."

Guidetti (SRB) took a quick look back at the summer ahead of tomorrow. "The goal with this team is to compete on every last day of the main competitions. We didn't manage that in the VNL yet, this European Championships we did. But if we want to go for gold, we have to focus on the match against a strong Netherlands first. No final is possible without finishing the semi-final first.

Tickets for the semi-final are still available at: eventim.nl 
Rewatch the full press conference here: youtube.com