Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen, the captain of NAVI, commented on his team's victory over Astralis in the group stage of IEM Cologne 2024. In an interview with HLTV, the Finnish esports player expressed his satisfaction at avenging their loss to Astralis at last year's Cologne tournament, where Astralis had denied NAVI a spot in the playoffs.
"Yes, it's an incredible feeling, especially considering that we played in the same positions, sitting across from each other. Back then, they defeated us in the decisive match, and it was a disaster for us—not making it to the playoffs. Throughout my career, I’ve only made it to the playoffs [in Cologne] once, and that was during COVID, so I didn’t get to play on stage. This will be my first time, and it's a very, very pleasant feeling."
Virolainen also reflected on NAVI's performance this year. According to Aleksib, the team is currently in good form.
"Our results after the Major left much to be desired. After that, we had many deep discussions. The mindset we brought into this season, with renewed motivation and a collective drive to win... We realised that we can’t play CS if everyone isn’t on the same page. Now, we've turned the page and started playing with more confidence. People can doubt us or say whatever they want, but in the end, we've been pretty consistent this year, especially in the second half of the season. As I said, we're taking it one game at a time, and anything can happen in the playoffs [of IEM Cologne 2024]."
NAVI began their group stage performance at IEM Cologne 2024 with a 2-0 victory over paiN. They then swept Astralis to advance to the playoffs. On August 13th, NAVI will face SAW to secure a better seeding in the final stage.