In the early hours of this morning, Beijing time, the Italian Scandicci women's volleyball team won the first championship in the Europa League final against Romania's Albabururi. As the team's top star, Zhu Ting scored a game-high 43 points in the final two legs, but the Europa League MVP title was won by her teammate, Antrobova. Under the popularity, the MVP fell again, causing strong dissatisfaction among fans, and for a while the Internet was full of remarks that "Zhu Ting's MVP was stolen again".
Indeed, Zhu Ting is the first contributor to Scandicci's first championship of the season, but combined with the performance of the European volleyball environment, Zhu Ting's lack of MVP is not just "discrimination" and "prejudice" -
Zhu Ting led Scandicci to the Europa League
Europa League final Scandicci double star shines Zhu Ting did not play the second game, and the MVP suffered a dark loss
The UEFA Europa League has never defined the criteria for the selection of Europa League MVPs, but from the perspective of European competitions in the past two years, the selection of tournament MVPs has increasingly focused on the performance of the final. The Europa League final is home and away + gold. In a way, the player's performance in the second game of the final had a greater impact on the Europa League MVP selection, and Antropova's final selection should have taken this into account.
Zhu Ting's teammate Antropova scored 20 points to win the scoring title and the Europa League MVP
Attacking Zhu Ting and receiving Antropova are two of Scandicci's most important attacking points. Although Antropova has been mediocre throughout the season, she did play a key role in the two-legged Europa League final, with Zhu Ting's "twin-star shine" that led Scandicci to the top. Let's start by looking at the data comparison between the two players in the active scoring session of the two legs of the Europa League final.
Zhu Ting and Antropova in the Europa League final two legs of the dunk stats are as follows:
In the first leg of the final, Scandicci won 3-1 away at Albaburraj:
Zhu Ting: 25 deductions, 2 blocks and 3 shots for a total of 30 points, offensive 39 deductions, 25 of 25 errors were blocked, and the success rate and efficiency of the smash were 64%
Antropova: 19 points in 16 dunks, 2 blocks and 1 shot, 16 of 16 on offense and 5 blocked, 47% success rate and 29% efficiency
In the second leg of the final, Scandicci won 3-0 at home to Albaburaj:
Zhu Ting: 13 points in 11 deductions and 2 blocks, 19 deductions and 11 errors in the offense, the success rate and efficiency of the smash are 59%
Antropova: 15 dunks 1 block 4 shots for a total of 20 points, 24 offensive dunks 15 of 0 turnovers 1 blocked, smash success rate 63%, smash efficiency 58%
In the first leg of the Europa League final, Zhu Ting led the way and won the single MVP without suspense. Antropova's performance in the second leg was also remarkable, both in terms of smashing data and key point grasp. Zhu Ting was replaced by teammate and Russian attacker Serban when the team led 17-6 in the fourth game, while Antropova stayed on the court until the end. Coach Barborini's employment arrangement not only allowed Antropova who remained on the field to get more scoring opportunities, but also made Zhu Ting, who did not play the full game, suffer a dark loss in the MVP selection to a certain extent.
The best selection of the UEFA Europa League has a "riot operation" This is not the first time that Zhu Ting's MVP has been sidelined
The selection of the tournament MVP does not completely rely on the match data, which also makes the UEFA have a certain operability when awarding the tournament MVP, and there are "riot operations" when "seeing people on the dishes". What impressed Chinese fans the most was undoubtedly the Champions League in the 2017-2018 season. Champions League Vakifer Bank successfully defended her title, with Zhu Ting scoring a game-high 15 points in the final, but MVP was won by her diagonal, retiring veteran Gouzde. In that Champions League final, Gauzde won 12 points, and the overall performance was much inferior to Zhu Ting, and Zhu Ting regretted missing out on the opportunity to win the Champions League MVP.
In the 2017-2018 Champions League, Gouzd won MVP
At that time, Zhu Ting suffered a loss in the Champions League MVP selection, which caused criticism from Chinese fans. In fact, the selection of that Champions League MVP was not outrageous, at least to the captain of the championship team Vakifer Bank, Gauzd. In fact, the UEFA Eurovolleyball League has always been "fancied" in the MVP selection criteria of the Champions League, Europa League and other events, even if there is a so-called selection focus, but people look at the "very lost" cases, everywhere -
Last season's women's volleyball Europa League MVP ended up in Issacibashi's setter Ognesovic rather than the core receiver Boskovic and other wide attackers in the team. It is true that Ognenovic's needle thread effectively activated Isacibashi's three-dimensional offensive system, but Boskovic, who won the single-game scoring champion in both legs of the final, did not win the MVP, and it was a solid slap in the face of the organizing committee.
Earlier, in the 2005-2006 Champions League Women's Volleyball Final 4, despite the overwhelming victory of Perugia in Italy, the MVP of the tournament was awarded to the runner-up, the deputy veteran of the Cannes women's volleyball team in France, making her the first player in the history of the Champions League women's volleyball team to win three MVPs. Who let the French club Cannes host the Champions League Final 4 matches!
To some extent, the organizing committee's stubborn and arrogant selection mechanism seems to have no standards to speak of, making the value of the MVP look more like the welfare of "dividing pork", losing the relative fairness at the competitive level.
Asian players are not easy to discriminate against in Europe, and there is an objective existence of personal gains and losses, which does not affect Zhu Ting's absolute value
Although the Chinese women's volleyball team has always been a world powerhouse, Asian volleyball also occupies an important position in the world volleyball. But in the development of volleyball professionalization, Asia and Europe are far from each other. Discrimination against Asian players by UEVOLVD and European clubs is objective. When you want results, you have to be on top, but when it comes to fighting for more individual honors, there is indeed a certain discrimination in judging awards, and it will be more skewed towards local players.
Kim Softview won the MVP in Ferné in the 2021-2022 Champions League season
Before Zhu Ting, South Korea's women's volleyball ace Kim Soft-kyung was the most successful Asian player in Liuyang, and she once said that it was not easy to break into Europe. In all levels of European club competitions, only Jin Softjing has won two MVPs so far. At her most popular, she was named MVP twice in the 2011-2012 Champions League and Europa League in 2013-2014.
This is Zhu Ting's first career in the Europa League, and it is indeed a pity to miss out on the MVP title. However, as volleyball, a sport that attaches great importance to collective cooperation, there is no need to overly consider individual gains and losses, it is enough to help the team win the championship and win the respect of the entire club. Zhu Ting's ability and value are not devalued once the Europa League MVP is reduced.
Zhu Ting played in the Europa League for the first time in her career, and it is a pity to miss out on the MVP award
Fans care about Zhu Ting's career development and personal honor, and it is understandable to complain about her, but for Zhu Ting's performance, the eyes can be more long-term. After all, compared with the honor of the club, Zhu Ting's Chinese women's volleyball team is more needed, and there are many important competitions this year, especially the Olympic qualification tournament that goes directly to the Paris Olympics and is held in the local area. Obviously, if Zhu Ting can appear in the Olympic qualification tournament in the best condition, then the Chinese women's volleyball team will undoubtedly have more confidence in competing for the Olympic qualification.