ZywOo on teammates stepping up: "It's less pressure on my shoulders"

IEM Rio MVP Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut spoke to HLTV about Vitality's great team performance and what it means in the lead-up to the Paris Major.

Vitality rounded out their IEM Rio campaign with a victory over HEROIC in the grand final, clinching their first trophy since ESL Pro League Season 16 as they completed their recovery from an opening loss in the group stage with their sixth series win in a row.

The Most Valuable Player of the tournament, ZywOo, spoke to HLTV after hoisting the IEM trophy about what the victory means with just two weeks to go before the BLAST.tv Paris Major starts and about his teammates stepping up individually in the playoffs.

Congratulations ZywOo, another trophy another MVP for you. It was a great game in the final against Heroic. How are you feeling right now?

Feeling good, obviously, after this win. Important to everyone because everyone showed up individually and I think we played well as a team and we never gave up over this game because they came back in some rounds. We showed up strong mentally, we are fighting, everyone, and it was good to play this game.

This is your 14th MVP and your eighth one [on LAN], what does it mean for you to have such a nice performance before the Major

Of course, it brings me confidence and good momentum. When I go to the tournament I am not thinking about the MVP, but I am trying my best for us to be the best teammate and also individually for the Major and for my team. Yeah, I feel good, really really good.

You and Spinx were the best players at this tournament, but in the final everyone on your team showed up. What did it mean for you?

It meant a lot also because it's less pressure on my shoulders because I don't have to think "I need to perform, I need to perform" every time, every round I need to do something. It's a great feeling to feel that because I can just think my teammates can do some good rounds as well, so it's perfect.

Obviously, you have Paris coming on, a very important Major for yourself and the organization, last time you also won the previous event before the Rio Major. What is Vitality going to do to not repeat the same mistake as last time?

I think we are not going to repeat the same mistake. We are all gonna take some good rest after that and not going to play instantly to try and see our mistakes. We're just going to take some good rest, try to think what is best for us and that's it. We're not going to overthink too much about the Major. I think having good rest is the best for us right now.