Liquid and VP triumph in openers

Liquid and Virtus.pro have advanced to face each other in the winners' match as the former beat EnVyUs 16-7 on Train while the latter defeated mousesports 16-10 on the same map.

The first match of Group C in ESL One Cologne brought Liquid and Envy together on Train with the Frenchmen starting on the CT-side. Envy gave away a bomb plany in the pistol round but managed to win with Vincent "⁠Happy⁠" Schopenhauer's double kill.

Dan "⁠apEX⁠" Madesclaire cleaned up the second round with three kills and a triple kill opening by Kenny "⁠kennyS⁠" Schrub in the third round put an end to Liquid's early third round weapon purchase. Spencer "⁠Hiko⁠" Martin secured his team first round with three kills and Liquid came back to lead 9-6 at halftime.

Hiko & co. fend off EnVyUs

Hiko opened his team's CT-side with two pistol kills and Jonathan "⁠EliGE⁠" Jablonowski's kill ended the round, makint it 10-6 in Liquid's favor. Although Envy made it 12-7, Hiko's 1vs2 clutch crushed the French team (13-7).

A quad-kill by Josh "⁠jdm64⁠" Marzano ended Envy' hopes and Liquid won the map 16-7.

ESL One Cologne 2016Best of 1 LiquidMatchpage 16 7 5th July 2016 Envy 16Train 7

Liquid	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Jonathan 'EliGE' JablonowskiEliGE	21 - 15	+6	106.6	1.61
Spencer 'Hiko' MartinHiko	21 - 10	+11	82.1	1.44
Josh 'jdm64' Marzanojdm64	20 - 12	+8	73.6	1.23
Nick 'nitr0' Cannellanitr0	13 - 16	-3	78.2	1.10
Oleksandr 's1mple' Kostylievs1mple	14 - 14	0	73.4	1.09

Envy	K - D	+/-	ADR	Rating 2.0
Kenny 'kennyS' SchrubkennyS	19 - 18	+1	76.0	1.03
Dan 'apEX' MadesclaireapEX	15 - 18	-3	84.7	1.03
Vincent 'Happy' SchopenhauerHappy	17 - 16	+1	61.4	0.89
Nathan 'NBK-' SchmittNBK-	7 - 18	-11	53.0	0.52
Timothée 'DEVIL' DémolonDEVIL	9 - 20	-11	48.2	0.49

In the Train match between Virtus.pro and MOUZ, the T-sided German team won the pistol round with a triple kill by Nikola "⁠NiKo⁠" Kovač and mouz managed to pick up the anti-ecos and the first weapon round, making it 4-0.

After trailing 0-7, Virtus.pro finally grabbed a round thanks to Wiktor "⁠TaZ⁠" Wojtas's 1vs1 clutch. Janusz "⁠Snax⁠" Pogorzelski's 1vs2 clutch put the Poles within one round of the German team but Chris "⁠chrisJ⁠" de Jong's triple kill allowed MOUZ to make it 8-6. The Poles secured the last round, trailing 7-8 at halftime.

Snax was huge for VP 

Jarosław "⁠pashaBiceps⁠" Jarząbkowski's triple kill in the second half pistol round tied the game at 8-8 and the momentum was completely on Virtus.pro's side. Filip "⁠NEO⁠" Kubski & company lost the first weapon round but reset their opponents's economy in the subsequent one.

The reset effect appeared once again as Virtus.pro made it 14-10. The Polish team closed it out 16-10, advancing to the winners' match.

Stats to come...

The action in Cologne will continue with the match of the day as SK will take on G2 in Group D's opening match. You can find streams for this clash in our match page.

Follow HLTV.org writer BenjaCS on twitter.

Wiktor 'TaZ' Wojtas Age: 30 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.02 Maps played: 1010 KPR: 0.70 DPR: 0.67 Jonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski Age: 18 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.05 Maps played: 346 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.71 Filip 'NEO' Kubski Age: 29 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.03 Maps played: 1011 KPR: 0.69 DPR: 0.66 Vincent 'Happy' Schopenhauer Age: 24 Team: Envy Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 798 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.65 G2 #2 Richard 'shox' PapillonCédric 'RpK' GuipouyEdouard 'SmithZz' DubourdeauxAdil 'ScreaM' BenrlitomAlexandre 'bodyy' Pianaro SK #1 Lincoln 'fnx' LauGabriel 'FalleN' ToledoFernando 'fer' AlvarengaMarcelo 'coldzera' DavidEpitacio 'TACO' de Melo Chris 'chrisJ' de Jong Age: 26 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.10 Maps played: 708 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.64 Liquid #11 Spencer 'Hiko' MartinNick 'nitr0' CannellaOleksandr 's1mple' KostylievJosh 'jdm64' MarzanoJonathan 'EliGE' Jablonowski MOUZ #13 Chris 'chrisJ' de JongNikola 'NiKo' KovačJohannes 'nex' MagetTimo 'Spiidi' RichterDenis 'denis' Howell Spencer 'Hiko' Martin Age: 26 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.11 Maps played: 467 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.61 Envy #6 Kenny 'kennyS' SchrubNathan 'NBK-' SchmittDan 'apEX' MadesclaireVincent 'Happy' SchopenhauerTimothée 'DEVIL' Démolon Janusz 'Snax' Pogorzelski Age: 23 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.08 Maps played: 825 KPR: 0.73 DPR: 0.65 Josh 'jdm64' Marzano Age: 26 Team: Liquid Rating 1.0: 1.07 Maps played: 352 KPR: 0.72 DPR: 0.65 Dan 'apEX' Madesclaire Age: 23 Team: Envy Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 769 KPR: 0.76 DPR: 0.71 Jarosław 'pashaBiceps' Jarząbkowski Age: 28 Team: Virtus.pro Rating 1.0: 1.06 Maps played: 961 KPR: 0.74 DPR: 0.69 Nikola 'NiKo' Kovač Age: 19 Team: MOUZ Rating 1.0: 1.18 Maps played: 393 KPR: 0.83 DPR: 0.70 Virtus.pro #7 Wiktor 'TaZ' WojtasFilip 'NEO' KubskiJarosław 'pashaBiceps' JarząbkowskiJanusz 'Snax' PogorzelskiPaweł 'byali' Bieliński Kenny 'kennyS' Schrub Age: 21 Team: Envy Rating 1.0: 1.17 Maps played: 823 KPR: 0.79 DPR: 0.63