The French team are just one victory away from the grand final after putting up another strong performance.

Vitality have set up a clash with Astralis in the upper bracket final of the BLAST Premier Global Final following a 2-0 victory over Liquid. An imperious display from Mathieu "⁠ZywOo⁠" Herbaut helped the French team to pick up a hard-fought victory on Nuke before they headed to their map pick of Vertigo, where veterans Richard "⁠shox⁠" Papillon and Cédric "⁠RpK⁠" Guipouy took over. Vitality took the lead from the outset and denied their opponents any chance of a comeback with a series of clutch situations throughout the game.

The French team got off to a lively start, cruising to a 5-0 lead on the CT side of Nuke, where Nabil "⁠Nivera⁠" Benrlitom was once again given the nod to play. Liquid picked up the pace after that, however, and dominated proceedings for the rest of the half for a 9-6 score, with Keith "⁠NAF⁠" Markovic leading the charge with 15 frags to his name and a 119 ADR.

Vitality will take on Astralis on Saturday for a spot in the final

Vitality came out of the break a revitalised side, winning eight of the initial nine rounds to get on the brink of victory. Liquid remained calm and collected - despite losing a painful 2v1 situation to a 1 HP ZywOo -, and took the game the full distance, only to falter at the final hurdle as the Frenchmen turned a 3v4 situation around.

ZywOo opened up the action on Vertigo with a quad-kill in the pistol round to help Vitality into an early lead. The French team controlled the early stages of the game - keeping Liquid from stringing rounds together - and raced to a 6-2 lead before the North Americans put their foot down. Jake "⁠Stewie2K⁠" Yip's charges put some rounds together to equalise the score, but then Vitality responded with three in a row to gain some momentum before the break.

Now playing on the T side, Liquid took the pistol round convincingly, but there was no follow-up as shox and RpK overcame a 2v5 situation. The French team kept a very tight defense and quickly hit match point, weathering a very late comeback attempt from the North Americans to wrap up the series.

BLAST Premier Global Final 2020Best of 3 VitalityMatchpage 2 0 21st January 2021 Liquid 16Nuke 14 16Vertigo 11

Vitality	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Richard 'shox' Papillonshox	49 - 32	+17	94.1	1.33
Mathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautZywOo	40 - 27	+13	73.1	1.30
Cédric 'RpK' GuipouyRpK	37 - 35	+2	72.3	1.12
Nabil 'Nivera' BenrlitomNivera	23 - 19	+4	60.8	1.11
Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX	38 - 40	-2	78.0	1.11
Kévin 'misutaaa' Rabiermisutaaa	11 - 19	-8	45.9	0.60

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFalleN	37 - 37	0	71.6	1.03
Jake 'Stewie2K' YipStewie2K	38 - 42	-4	76.4	1.03
Keith 'NAF' MarkovicNAF	32 - 39	-7	71.9	0.95
Michael 'Grim' WinceGrim	35 - 39	-4	58.8	0.95
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	30 - 41	-11	66.9	0.87

Cédric 'RpK' Guipouy Age: 31 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 0.98 Maps played: 1465 KPR: 0.67 DPR: 0.68 Vitality #2 Richard 'shox' PapillonCédric 'RpK' GuipouyDan 'apEX' MadesclaireMathieu 'ZywOo' HerbautKévin 'misutaaa' Rabier Mathieu 'ZywOo' Herbaut Age: 20 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.28 Maps played: 767 KPR: 0.86 DPR: 0.62 Keith 'NAF' Markovic Age: 23 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1353 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.63 Nabil 'Nivera' Benrlitom Age: 19 Team: VitalityS Rating 1.0: 1.12 Maps played: 182 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.62 Astralis #1 Andreas 'Xyp9x' HøjslethPeter 'dupreeh' RasmussenLukas 'gla1ve' RossanderNicolai 'device' ReedtzEmil 'Magisk' Reif Richard 'shox' Papillon Age: 28 Team: Vitality Rating 1.0: 1.09 Maps played: 1789 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.66 Jake 'Stewie2K' Yip Age: 23 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 1328 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.68 Liquid #8 Gabriel 'FalleN' ToledoKeith 'NAF' MarkovicJonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiJake 'Stewie2K' YipMichael 'Grim' Wince