Mendoza native Loser makes history: he'll play in the Champions League volleyball final with Perugia.

Mendoza center back Agustín Loser continues to write important chapters in the history of Mendoza volleyball . This Thursday, his team, Sir Safety Perugia of Italy, became the first finalist of the 2025 CEV Men's Champions League Final Four, after defeating Turkish team Halkbank Ankara 3-0 (25-23, 25-23, 25-22) in an intense semifinal played in Lodz, Poland .

With this victory, Loser becomes the first player from Mendoza to compete in a Champions League final , an unprecedented achievement for the provincial sport. The final will be played this Sunday , and Perugia awaits a rival between Polish teams Jastrzbski Wgiel and Aluron CMC Warta Zawiercie , who will play the second semifinal tomorrow.

For the Italian club, this will be only their second appearance in a European final. Their previous appearance was in the 2016/17 season, and since then they had accumulated five semifinal losses, a streak they finally managed to break.

The duel against Halkbank was even from the start. The Turkish team surprised in the first points with a 5/1 run, led by an unstoppable Yoandy Leal , who finished the first set with eight points. However, Perugia reacted thanks to their efficiency in attack (56%) and defensive work, where Loser was key in blocking . The Italian team turned the score around midway through the set (14/13) and ended up closing the set with a service point by Japanese player Yuki Ishikawa .

In the second set, Perugia showed greater control of the game. They started ahead (8/6), maintained their advantage, and closed the set 25/23, despite a comeback from the Turkish team. Ishikawa added seven more points, bringing his total to 14 after the first two sets.

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Gentleness

Down two sets, Halkbank went all out in search of a miracle in the third and took a 4/0 lead. But Perugia responded solidly: Loser, along with Ishikawa and Tunisian Wassim Ben Tara, took control at the net , leveled the set at 8, and from then on dominated the rest of the game. The closing score was 25/22 for the Italians, who cruised into the final with confidence.

Perugia reached this stage having lost just one match in the entire competition, and now they're going for the most important title in European volleyball. And they'll do so with a Mendoza star on the court: Agustín Loser , the center back who continues to demonstrate his prowess at the elite level of international sport.

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Gentleness