The ESL studios in Cologne, Germany, have already seen tons of top-notch CS:GO action during the opening day as well as the quarterfinals. This continued into the semifinals, which saw Cloud9 battling CLG and Fnatic fighting Virtus.pro for a slot in the grand finals. Here’s how things played out...
Cloud9 vs. CLG: USA! USA!
The first semifinal saw teams who were not expected to get that far by many. As it’s already known that the grand finals will feature a North American team, the only question remaining was which of the two teams would represent their region.
Both Cloud9 and CLG showed up in Cologne in fantastic shape, but it was Cloud9 who decisively took the series 2-0. The first match took place on Cache, where Cloud9 took the victory 16-5. The second map was Dust2, where Cloud9 hit the final nail on the coffin and took the match 16-8 to advance to the grand final against their European opponents.
Fnatic vs. Virtus.pro: Clash of the European titans
The second semifinal came down to two European giants in the CS:GO competitive scene. Reigning ESL One champions Fnatic came into the tournament as great favorites. Surprisingly, their performance started out pretty shaky, with them losing their first match to CLG and moved onto the loser’s bracket. Since then, however, it’s been business as usual, with them paving their way to the semifinals.
Virtus.pro, although looking more dominant throughout the tournament, did not manage to stop the Swedes from Fnatic, and lost the series 1-2. Both teams started out strong and delivered outstanding performances on Cache, with Virtus.pro emerging victorious with a 16-12 score. Despite a very close first game, the other two were about Fnatic demonstrating their massive dominance, taking Overpass 16-3 and Dust2 16-9.
Time for the grand finals!
After a series of exciting matches it’s almost time for the grand finals, which will determine who will home the trophy and US$100,000 of the US$500,000 prize pool. It all comes down to Fnatic versus Cloud9 and Europe versus North America, so be sure not to miss what will definitely be an outstanding final series!
Tune in here at 18:30 CEST!
For all the latest information about the ESL ESEA Pro League, visit the tournament’s official website.
