There's a big weekend coming up for the FC Bayern Esports team. Alex Alguacil, José Sánchez and Miguel Mestre, together with Barcelona player Saúl Chávez, make up the Spain team for the UEFA eEuro 2020 Championship. Originally, a live event in London was planned to run parallel to the real European football championship. However, due to the Corona pandemic, the virtual European Championship will now take place online. You can follow all the matches live either on UEFA.com or on UEFA's YouTube channel.
Special group stage
The competition will be played on Konami's eFootball Pro Evolution Soccer 2020 (PES 20) and run over two days, starting at 12:30 CEST on Saturday and 11:00 CEST on Sunday. It will kick off with a group stage, which will follow a somewhat unusual format. The four teams in each group will pair off and play a two-legged tie. In the event of a draw, there will be a third Golden Goal game. The winning teams will then face each other, with the victors going through to the quarter-finals. The other team will then play against the winners of a separate play-off between the losers, with the winners of this match also going through to the quarter-finals in second place.
Good individual players
From then on, things will continue in the traditional way: in the quarter and semi-finals, the winners will be decided in a best-of-three format, and in the final there will be a best-of-five. The game will be played in Balanced Mode, which the Spanish Bayern players know well from the eFootball.pro League. However, the individual games will not be played in the usual 3-on-3 format, but in 1-on-1 mode. However, the players will have to always take turns. "That's a completely different thing. But we all played alone at the beginning of our careers. We're with FC Bayern because we're strong 1-on-1 players," Sánchez said confidently.
Qualification a close-run thing
The road to the finals for Sanchez and Co. was not an easy one. In qualifying, Spain finished second in their group and had to go into the play-offs. "We missed too many chances against Serbia. In the play-offs we showed what we can do and why we are among the top 16 teams," said Sánchez. In the finals at the weekend, the Spaniards will definitely be looking to grab the title: "We have four top players in the team, and our different strengths mean we're ready for any opponent." Other big favourites for Sánchez are the French, but he also fancies the Serbs, Dutch and the Germans.
Possible clash against Germany
And there could already be a group clash against just these same Germans on Saturday. "They have very experienced players who also play together at Schalke 04 so already know each other. In addition, the German team plays very well in Balanced Mode," says Sánchez. In the Spanish squad, Thiago is the only FCB player available to the Bayern trio. But Sánchez has a clear plan for him: "I'll be bringing him on in the second half when our opponents will be a bit tired. That's when his skills, passing and agility will really come in handy," explained the 27-year-old from Alicante.
🎮 The three Bayern gamers also have a coach by their side in their day-to-day league life. Find out what Matthias Luttenberger's work entails and how he became an Esports coach in the first place here:
