FURIA see off MOUZ to reach back-to-back Big Event finals

FURIA beat MOUZ in three maps on Friday to reach the PGL Masters Bucharest final, according to HLTV, extending their recent form to a second consecutive Big Event decider.

The Brazilian side had won the Thunderpick World Championship in Malta less than two weeks earlier, HLTV reported, and now face Nemiga on Saturday for another trophy.

Danil "molodoy" Golubenko posted the highest rating of the series at 1.24. Speaking to HLTV's James Banks after the match, he said: "I'm very happy," before adding: "It's always hard to play against MOUZ. They have good structure and know how to play the game."

Nemiga reached their first-ever Big Event final by upsetting Vitality earlier on Friday. Golubenko, previewing the final, said two of Nemiga's players know him personally: "I will play against my friends, syph0 and khaN. I think they want to beat me. It's hard to play against them because they will be confident playing against me. We will see. Good luck to them."

The semi-final opened on Dust2, where FURIA built an early lead that MOUZ overturned once they had equipment money behind them. Mareks "YEKINDAR" Gaļinskis questioned his team-mates' lack of communication during that spell, a comment that, per HLTV's account, appeared to galvanise the opposition rather than his own side.

FURIA responded immediately, led by Golubenko and Yuri "yuurih" Santos. Golubenko then landed three USP headshots to hand his team a flawless CT-side pistol round, and FURIA closed out the map with a 7-0 run.

MOUZ hit back on Mirage. Kaike "KSCERATO" Cerato opened with a four-kill pistol round to put FURIA 8-4 up in a half that finished 18-6, with Oldřich "PR" Nový the only MOUZ player to make an impact, racking up 14 frags - one more than the rest of his team combined.

MOUZ flipped the map after the break, building a 7-0 lead on tight defence. YEKINDAR and KSCERATO combined for all five kills in FURIA's solitary round win of the half, but it was not enough to stop MOUZ levelling the series.

Cache decided it. FURIA took an 8-4 first-half lead by denying MOUZ the chance to string rounds together, and although both sides dropped anti-ecos after the restart, FURIA won back-to-back rounds to close out the series.

FURIA will play Nemiga in Saturday's final, with Golubenko's comments suggesting a personal edge to the match-up given his familiarity with syph0 and khaN on the opposing roster.