alex: "Our goal for the tournament was to win a single match"

Alejandro "⁠alex⁠" Masanet addresses his side's shaky recent form.

Movistar Riders have had a rough time adjusting since the departure of Álvaro "⁠SunPayus⁠" García in August last year, with his replacement Antonio "⁠MartinezSa⁠" Martinez struggling for match-to-match consistency. Such were their difficulties they began the year with a 2-8 map record.

Here at the CCT Central Europe Finals the Spaniards have rediscovered some form, recovering from an opening loss to ENCE to dispatch Sprout and Spirit and make the playoffs.

After taking down top-20 squad Spirit, alex sat down with HLTV for a quick chat about the win, what his team need to get back to their peak, and their goals moving forward.

First of all, congrats on the victory. How does it feel to qualify for the playoffs after such a long day, after two BO3s?

I mean, it feels amazing not only to go to the playoffs, but also to win a match. Two BO3s in a row for us is incredible right now, yeah. I think we are playing well, so we should keep it up.

Were you worried at any point? You were 14-5 up on Nuke and you almost let it slip. How did you close it out?

I think they took the entry on the round like five rounds. It was hard to play 4vs5 at some point. So I think we just talked with the team and we just said that we shouldn't give them the entry, so we can play 5vs5 situations. We just tried to follow the call and that's it.

You dropped out of the top 30 after almost a year in there. What do you need to get back?

I think time. We are working well and we believe in the process. We know that there is going to be a long process. So we need to work hard and that's what we are doing. So, yes, this is the case.

So you talk about needing time. Was that the case for Martinez as well, who came from a lower-tier team? Do you think he needed more time to get used to top-tier CS?

Yeah, I mean, he doesn't need that much time, but of course, he will need to gain some more experience in other tournaments like this. But I'm sure that he will be one of the best players in the world, for sure.

You have CCT now, and then you go to EPL. What are your goals for these two tournaments and the year in general for you?

So, it's like a joke, but our goal for this tournament was to win a single match. So we just checked the box and finally got the objective, the goal. For EPL, it's like match to match, I would say.