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Natus Vincere (NaVi) have advanced to the semi-finals of ESL Pro League Season 20 after a dominant 2-0 victory over Team Spirit, breaking a streak of four consecutive losses to the Russian team.
“Finally we did it, took us quite a while,” said Lithuanian star Justinas “jL” Lekavicius, who led NaVi with an incredible 1.80 series rating.
This win marks their first over Spirit in a series of previously one-sided defeats.
Not a problem for @natusvincere 😌
They cruise past @Team__Spirit to reach the semifinals at #ESLProLeague S20
13-5 Dust 2
13-9 Mirage pic.twitter.com/Cu8REmLJWl— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) September 20, 2024
The Counter-Strike match opened on Dust2, Spirit’s map pick, where Natus Vincere stormed to a commanding 9-3 lead in the first half.
A pivotal 1v3 clutch by jL helped NAVI reach map point, and the game was wrapped up with a 13-5 scoreline.
Spirit’s struggles continued on Mirage, despite Dmitry “sh1ro” Sokolov’s standout performance with 18 kills in the first half.
However, NaVi took control in the second half, with jL delivering a monstrous 2.98 counter-terrorist rating, and closed out the map 13-5.
NaVi will face G2 Esports in the semi-finals after G2’s hard-fought 2-1 victory over Team Liquid.
G2 kicked off the series on Inferno, where Ilya “m0NESY” Osipov stole the show with multiple clutch moments, helping G2 secure a dominant 13-3 win.
.@G2CSGO take care of @TeamLiquidCS on their way to the #ESLProLeague S20 Semifinals
13-3 Inferno
5-13 Mirage
13-3 Nuke pic.twitter.com/81HY8BmMzs— ESL Counter-Strike (@ESLCS) September 20, 2024
Liquid responded with a strong performance on Mirage, taking the map 13-5 behind a flawless second half.
However, G2 bounced back on Nuke, led by m0NESY’s 22 first-half kills, to secure a crushing 13-3 victory and a place in the semis.
Looking ahead to their showdown with NaVi, G2’s Nikola “NiKo” Kovač acknowledged the challenge, calling NaVi “the best team in the world right now.”
Both teams will clash on Saturday, with high stakes and redemption in mind for G2 after multiple past defeats to NaVi.
Saturday’s semi-final matches
- MIBR (+162) vs Eternal Fire (-227.27) @ 4:15pm CEST
- Natus Vincere (-188.68) vs G2 Esports (+137) @ 7:30pm CEST
