Esports: Alex Alguacil looks back at Bayern's first season

The FC Bayern esports athletes enjoyed a historic success on Friday! The Munich team beat FC Barcelona 2-0 in the final of the eFootball.pro Cup. This meant Bayern's virtual footballers celebrated their first title in their premiere season. Now it's time to take a breather. The next competitions and tournaments are subject to confirmation when the 2021 Season Update from eFootball PES appears in mid-September. Before going into the well-deserved summer break, fcbayern.com spoke to FCB gamer Alex Alguacil about the season. The Andalusian finished the tournament as MVP in the final.

The winning team: José Sánchez, Miguel Mestre and Alex Alguacil.

Congratulations on the title, Alex! The eFootball.pro Cup final was against Barcelona - how did you approach the game?
Alex Alguacil: "I was really stressed out. We've beaten Barcelona several times, but we also knew how good they can be. Anything can happen in a single game. The first goal let us take a breath and we calmed down. After the game, the emotions finally broke out, it was incredible - an unforgettable feeling." 

How do you rate your performance at the eFootball.pro Cup? 

"It was a very tough tournament. We knew after the draw it wouldn't be an easy task with Monaco and Barcelona in the group. But we survived, and almost perfectly. José and Mestre in particular did a great job. The second matchday was a little more difficult. Fortunately, the defeat against Nantes didn't hold us back."

All the information about the tournament victory can be found here:

The semi-final against Juventus was very exciting. How was the duel for you?
"It was going well, but ten minutes of unfocused play cost us the first leg. That was crazy. The start of the second game was brilliant, but Juve made another strong comeback. The deciding game was special because it was very short with five minutes of play. The joy of reaching the final was huge of course. The duel was special for me because I became world champion together with Ettore Giannuzzi and Luca Tubelli. And unfortunately I didn't have my best games in the group stage, which is why I was so happy about my four goals against Juventus."

You scored the goal of the matchday in each round and two of three MVP awards went to you. How important are these successes for you? 
"Obviously we don't focus on that at the games. We always aim for overall success. If we reach our top level, we can achieve our dream goals. Of course it's nice to receive an award like this as appreciation. Because I didn't have the best group stage, the MVP award in the final was something very special for me."

Some were at home in their living rooms, you were in the gaming centre. Were the playing conditions a decisive factor? 
"Everyone is used to playing from home and creating the environment they need in the best possible way. We love playing together and helping each other with the games. So we're glad we had the opportunity to be together in a gaming centre in Madrid. That was important to us and in the end it showed its effect." 

Although the tournament was held online, the FCB gamers played together in the same place.

How would you summarise the first season in retrospect? 
"With one word: work. Hard work. We were late starting our preparation. We weren't well-practised on the first day of play. After that we got better and better and worked our way up to second place. We weren't happy about the end of the season. In the Cup we were able to show we deserved to be at the top."

You didn't know the team at the beginning. What were your expectations and how did everything develop? 
"We knew each other, but didn't have this close connection yet. We knew it was going to be a tough season. But our goal was to be one of the best teams in the world. We all have different qualities and bring them to bear. Both outside and while playing - it couldn't be better. We had a lot of fun on the matchdays, at the boot camps and everything else. We spent a lot of time together and definitely became close friends."

What are you doing during your break from the game? 
"I'm relaxing a bit, the season was longer than usual. We're at the top now and we want to stay there. Next time we have to prove it wasn't luck. We're looking forward to our second year with eFootball.pro."

🎮 One Esports match is still to play: The final of the Allianz Esports Cup will take place on Monday evening. Read the info about the fan tournament here: