Bad News Eagles and Movistar Riders will face off in the ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023 Grand Final for the right to win the championship.
Interestingly, the teams have already met in this tournament and the Spaniards won then. It seems to me that this factor was an additional incentive for the Bad News Eagles, who had time to take a breather after a tense semi-final.
And I don't see the Spanish team as winners of any championship in general. So here I would place my bets on a Bad News Eagles victory.
Bad News Eagles uniforms
The 23rd ranked team in the world played well in the main stage of the BLAST.tv Paris Major 2023 Europe RMR A, after which they managed to defeat GamerLegion and make their way into the "legends" of the majors.
However, the Kosovar side had problems at the Long Converge group stage of ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023, as they lost to Movistar Riders, but at least they qualified for the play-offs.
As for the semi-finals, Bad News Eagles managed a hard-fought victory over Grayhound Gaming that should be the catalyst for the team to wake up.
The latest Bad News Eagles results:
- A 2-1 win over GamerLegion.
- A 16-10 win over VERTEX.
- Defeat to Movistar Riders, 11-16.
- 2-1 win over Rare Atom.
- Beat Grayhound Gaming 2-1.
Bad News Eagles top scorers:
- Inferno - 57% wins.
- Mirage - 65% wins.
- Ancient - 56% wins.
- Vertigo - 55% wins.
- Overpass - 50% wins.
It is worth recalling that the Kosovo team has not played on the Nuke map for a long time.
Movistar Riders uniforms
The 25th ranked team in the world managed to attend ESL Pro League Season 17 and even made it to the play-offs, but very quickly and without a chance lost to G2 Esports.
Here the Spanish team arrived at ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023, where they managed to get two wins over Rare Atom and Bad News Eagles, earning a direct ticket to the play-offs.
Here the Spanish team didn't notice ECSTATIC at all, showing two good results and getting a free slot in the grand final.
Movistar Riders latest results:
- A 2-0 win over Iron Branch.
- 1-2 defeat of EYEBALLERS.
- Victory over Rare Atom, 19-16.
- Beat Bad News Eagles 16-11.
- ECSTATIC beat ECSTATIC 2-0.
Movistar Riders top scorers:
- Anubis - 80% wins.
- Mirage - 67% wins.
- Ancient - 50% wins.
- Nuke - 50% wins.
- Inferno - 50% wins.
In turn, the Spanish team has most often given up Vertigo.
Meeting statistics Bad News Eagles - Movistar Riders
Within the current season, the teams have played two meetings:
- Bad News Eagles' 2-0 win at CCT Central Europe Malta Finals 1.
- Movistar Riders won at ESL Challenger Melbourne 2023 16-11.
The teams then played Overpass, Ancient and Inferno on the cards.
Bad News Eagles vs Movistar Riders match prediction
I don't see the point in thinking about it as everything is about the same here. Yes, the Spanish team spent less energy in their semi-final, but they also played later.
In general, the Kosovars must draw conclusions from their last defeat by Movistar Riders, and in general it's time for the boys to get in shape before the major. So in this case, I'd recommend betting on Bad News Eagles to win.
