Movistar Riders and Astralis have suffered defeats in the IEM Road to Rio Europe Open Qualifier 3’s round of 32. The Danes were bested by los kogutos, a result that comes as a surprise after the team’s performance in BLAST Fall Groups, where they got the better of the likes of Ninjas in Pyjamas and Vitality. The Spaniards, who recently lost their star sniper Alvaro “⁠SunPayus⁠” Garcia to ENCE, fell to B8 in the same round.

This now means that both Movistar Riders and Astralis face the jarring task of booking one of the remaining six spots available in Friday’s Open Qualifier 4, or suffer an early elimination in the Major qualification process. BLAST Groups will run in tandem with the qualifier on Friday, but Ulrich Schulze, SVP of Product at ESL, ensured that the TOs are working together so teams don’t miss out on either event.

Astralis faced los kogutos on Ancient in the round of 32 and had a slow start to the game. They went down 1-7 on the CT side before stabilizing to win the half 8-7. Even with the momentum in their favor, they didn’t find success on the offense and lost nine rounds in a row, which culminated in an unexpected exit for the Danes.

Meanwhile, Movistar Riders lost 9-16 on Nuke to the Ukrainians of B8. The Spanish team’s recent addition, Antonio “⁠MartinezSa⁠” Martinez Sánchez, had an indifferent game, averaging a 0.83 rating as his team was hampered by an uninspired defensive half they were unable to recover from.