dastan: "It will be in our heart forever"

Ecstatic following Outsiders' IEM Rio Major victory, coach Dastan "⁠dastan⁠" Akbayev shared his thoughts on the monumental achievement.

On Sunday, Outsiders swept HEROIC in a dominant IEM Rio Major title decider, completing their stunning campaign at the upset-filled tournament. It had been over three years since dastan stood behind his AVANGAR squad and witnessed them lose to Astralis in the StarLadder Major final, and this time he got to experience the special moment from the winning side.

Still filled with emotions nearly an hour after hoisting the Rio trophy, the Kazakh coach spoke to HLTV.org about the achievement.

"It's amazing. I didn't think until we took this trophy — it's unbelievable," he said. "It's the Major, it [was] our dream, and it means a lot. It will be in our heart forever."

Looking around at his still rather stunned teammates, who looked as if they were still yet to fully realize the weight of the moment, dastan spoke about Mareks "⁠YEKINDAR⁠" Gaļinskis once calling the team "robots" and their emotionless approach following his departure from the team in May.

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"We are not robots! We are professionals. In the long distance, you need to keep your emotions," he said. "We are not robots, first of all we are professionals and then we are friends. It's important to have that kind of relationship. Hello, Mareks, YEKINDAR, privet buster, this is a win for everyone."

You can watch the full interview with the Kazakh coach on our YouTube channel, where you can also find other video interviews we conducted throughout the IEM Rio Major, episodes of the HLTV Confirmed podcast, and weekly news reports.