The captain of NAVI, Aleksi "Aleksib" Virolainen, commented on his team's recent victory over G2 in the match to reach the finals of ESL Pro League Season 20 for Counter-Strike 2. In an interview with HLTV.org, Virolainen admitted that after their loss on Nuke, he had doubts about whether they could win the series.
"I felt it would be tough today, simply because... it's a bit strange to realise that we’ve never lost to them, even though I consider them a very strong team. They consistently perform well, play in major tournaments, reach finals, and defeat good teams. It's almost like they have a mental block against us.
We made a comeback on Nuke, but they still closed out the map, and we had some doubts when we went outside. I could see it on the faces of individual players; we were a bit deflated. We couldn’t showcase our game because they dominated on our attacking side. We took 11 rounds, but we didn’t feel like we were in the game.
As soon as we huddled together, I saw everyone focused on the fact that we could do this, and we had a great mindset going into the third map. That's the only reason we came out victorious."
The Finnish esports athlete also spoke about the upcoming match against Eternal Fire for the championship title, noting that the Turkish team has made significant progress.
"We’ve seen how they played in this tournament – they’re a completely different team in my opinion. They are playing very strongly. The way they played against Vitality and beat them was impressive; we all watched it in practice and were surprised by how powerful they were.
We know we’ve already played against them and prepared for this match. We’ve faced each other before, but I feel they’ve become stronger than ever and want to win. But to be honest, so do we.
We had chances in the last final in Cologne, and it came down to fine margins. Right now, I feel the whole team wants this so badly that tomorrow we will give it our all and do everything possible."
As a reminder, ESL Pro League Season 20 takes place from 3 to 22 September in Malta, featuring 32 teams, with a total prize pool of $750,000.