Seventyfour!!!!!! Panthers in the history of world sport

The Prosecco Doc Imoco records the new record of victories in a row: it is in the Guinness World Cup with the billboards of the record for the “most unbeatable” club ever

/ VILLORBA

Hanging from the ceiling of the Palaverde are eight empty spaces to house the trophies conquered by the Imoco in the era of Covid. Two Italian Cups, a Scudetto, three Super Cups, a Champions League, a Club World Cup, arrived thanks to a streak of 74 consecutive victories, which make Conegliano the “most unbeatable” team in the world.

Seventy-four victories, with yesterday’s against Despar Trentino, which draw a bridge between two eras. The one before Covid and that of the pandemic, that of empty buildings and that of the reconquest of sociality. As if the panthers hadn’t wanted to lose the inertia of that wave of victories, dragging it up to be able to let the fans savor it, who yesterday filled the arena within the limits allowed by the anti-contagion regulations.

A record that makes 21 November 2021 a historic day, in a year that until now had gone down in history for another. In the exceptionality of the pandemic, there was room to win a European football and a volleyball championship, the 100 meters and 4x100m of the Tokyo Olympics, and now also to bring the world record for unbeaten women’s volleyball to Conegliano. Clearly not worth an Olympics – and some panthers have tried it on the skin – but meanwhile their names now make up a team of phenomena. Like the Milan of the Dutch or Cruijff’s Holland.

The Imoco cancels the bogeyman of the Vakifbank for years unattainable, then became a black beast, and today – defeated in the Champions League final and snatched the unbeaten record – remained in the mirrors of Conegliano. She remains the most formidable of the opponents also in view of the next world champion that the panthers have put in their sights, the Club World Cup in mid-December in Ankara when Conegliano will try to put in the drawer the ninth banner to hang from the ceiling of the Palaverde.

Meanwhile, yesterday the world champion streak and the “certificate” of the unbeaten record were able to raise it in the center of the building. To bring him to the field, while the referees checked the video check that there was the touch of the Trento wall on Omoruyi’s attack to close the match, were Megan Courtney, rested for a day, and Sara Fahr, who started training again after the Crusader operation. The unbeaten record is also his, as of all the panthers who from 15 December 2019 – the date of victory number one with Chieri – have dressed the yellow and blue colors until today.

Having finally won for the 74th time in a row is a medal to put on your chest, and a liberation for a record that in the last few days had begun to weigh like a boulder on the traditional lightness of the panthers. Inevitable, therefore, the round of the field, the joy of yet another victory, the party – alas still at a distance – with the public who filled the Palaverde, as much as possible. And the photos that will remain in history. Rewritten once again by a club that never ceases to amaze. –