Mazino on facing Gambit: "I think it's clear by this point that they won't underestimate us"

Just when you thought that the results of VCT 2021 - VALORANT Champions 2021 wouldn’t surprise you, the LATAM team caused yet another upset. This time, however, it’s the latter half of the NA-EU rivalry that was affected. X10 Crit and Team Secret both of which made the quarter finals by upsetting major teams had to encounter defeat in the first round of playoffs, and everyone assumed that KRÜ would have the same fate given that their opponents were one of the best teams of the EU scene, Fnatic. But KRÜ wasn’t plagued by this mentality, and they played out their true potential on all three maps.

As you might be aware from the Group 9 recap, KRÜ managed to force overtime on Haven, the first map, and eventually close out the map with a 15:13 score. However, they couldn’t keep up on Icebox and fell 13:6 with the series going to the decider map, Split. Although Fnatic made desperate attempts to take the lead, the map had KRÜ’s name written on it and with a clutch from Roberto "Mazino" Rivas, the series and a semi-finals spot was awarded to KRÜ Esports, the only LATAM team in the tournament.

After the match, THESPIKE.GG was granted the opportunity to interview none other than Roberto "Mazino" Rivas himself.

Congratulations on the win. How do you feel about your and the team’s performance today?

Proud, happy but mainly proud about myself and all of the team's work. But you can always be better. You can always improve. And that's what we were looking for.

It is fair to say that your victory over Sentinels will go down in history, how were you feeling after that win?

That win made us really proud since we are the only representatives of Latin America. We just want to repeat everything we've achieved so far and continue our performances.

How important was that win to the team’s morale?

It was like any other win. It doesn’t really matter who we're faced against. If we're on a winning streak, it helps in boosting our confidence. So, we will try to keep on winning in future matchups as well.

Your comeback on Haven was extremely important in this series. What did the coach tell you at the end of the first half that motivated the team to play aggressive offense?

We've made amazing comebacks being down eight eight four nine three and what the coach tells us always is to continue playing your game style, and what the team has practiced and decided upon earlier, and we just go for it. That's what's been working for so far and is the main reason why we've been able to achieve such comebacks.

You are up against Gambit in the semifinals, winners of Masters Berlin. What are your thoughts on their current form and the difficulties Fnatic might face going against them in terms of playstyle?

They have obviously performed really well if they are in the semi-finals, but our achievement and our goal is the same. Just beat whoever is in front of us and move forward.

Is there anything that you could improve on from today's performance?

I would mainly say that it's the nervousness and the anxiety that sometimes makes us lose ground because of making bad decisions in split seconds and it’s those tiny things that we have to work on and improve in order to win in the upcoming matches.

Being the only team from Latin America to make it out of the groups and now at this stage the only team outside EMEA, what does this mean to you, and does it add extra pressure when preparing for Gambit?

There's of course always pressure regardless of being the only LATAM team. But it doesn't really affect us because we just focus on our own game to avoid making mistakes.

What was your favorite play in today's series?

I wasn’t thinking of any single play in particular, but I would say maybe the six kills from Angelo "Keznit" Mori or my own 4k heaven. Those I think are the highlights of the series.

Any special plans on celebrating this win, or will you be back to practice?

Obviously, the tournament hasn’t ended, so we don't have anything to celebrate yet. We'll keep on practicing and keep on performing like we did in the last two games.

Do you have any words for your semi-final opponent, Gambit?

I think it's clear by this point that they won't underestimate us. But let's just make it a fun match.