Pumas bounced back from going down from a 2-0 deficit to get a 2-2 tie against rivals and first placed Cruz Azul. Cruz Azul went to a 2-0 lead and half time and looked to be getting another victory against their rivals but a couple of key defensive mistakes allowed Pumas to get a tie even when they were a man down for 27 minutes. Pumas will now face off their biggest rival of the regular season, Club America in another edition of the Clasico Capitalino. Meanwhile Cruz Azul will host the return leg
of the CONCACAF Champions Cup against Monterrey (Cruz Azul won the first leg by a 3-2 score) before traveling to Sinaloa to face off against Mazatlan.
The 1st half started with Pumas coming out with their normal starting 11 while Cruz Azul continued with new addition, Nicolas Ibañez from the start. Off a counter, a good run would end with Juninho getting off a left footed shot in the area that went just wide. 11 minutes into the match, Adalberto Carrasquilla would clash into Gonzalo Piovi and get a Yellow Card and start a small scuffle as Cruz Azul is still not over the sliding tackle from Carrasquilla that injured goalkeeper, Kevin Mier, who still has not played for Cruz Azul since. Robert Morales would win the ball and get into the area where he got off a right footed shot that went wide. After getting the ball in the area, Ibañez would lob the ball over a defender and get off a left footed shot that forced a good save from Pumas’ goalkeeper, Keylor Navas. Off a corner kick, the cross into the area was headed by Piovi but deflected off Pumas’ defender, Angel Azuaje and fell to Navas. From outside the area, Jose Paradela got off a right footed shot that went well wide. Because of injury, Carlos Rotondi was subbed out for Jorge Rodarte. A right footed shot from outside the area from Paradeala was deflected and forced Navas to make a good save. Off the ensuing corner kick, the cross into the area was headed by a wide open Willer Ditta towards Nicolas Ibañez, who rose and headed from close range past Navas to score and give Cruz Azul the 1-0 lead. A left footed shot from outside the area from Agustin Palavecino went wide. After a good combination play, a wide open Carlos Rodriguez would get the ball in the area and get off a right footed shot past Navas to score and give Cruz Azul the 2-0 lead. While Cruz Azul had been better, they hadn’t been as superior as the score reflected. A cross into the area would be headed wide just before Alvaro Angulo would get to the ball from a close range chance. Erik Lira would get off a right footed shot from outside the area that went just wide. The halftime whistle blew and Cruz Azul had a solid lead in route to another possible victory against their city rivals.
The 2nd half started with neither team making a substitution during the break. A cross into the area from Jordna Carrillo would got just past tow attackers and go inches from going into the net before going wide. A free kick from outside the area ended with Piovi getting off a left footed shot that went wide. Pumas subbed out Jordan Carrillo, Alan Medina and Alvaro Angulo for Guillermo Martinez, Ruben Duarte and Uriel Antuna. A cross into the area would have Martinez being pushed by Ditta as Cruz Azul’s goalkeeper, Andres Gudiño would reach the ball and a Penalty Kick was given to Pumas. Juninho stepped up to take the PK and got off a right footed shot past Gudiño to score and put the match at 2-1. Off a free kick, Carrasquilla got off a cross that Gudiño had to block and had some trouble with his save. After elbowing Rodarte, a foul was called on Nathan and a second Yellow card given to leave Pumas with only 10 players. Not only was this a huge hit to the match but it means that Nathan would miss the Clasico Capitalino that will be played next weekend. Cruz Azul subbed out Nicolas Ibañez and Jeremy Marquez for Gabriel Fernandez and Amaury Garcia. Pumas subbed out Juninho for Pablo Bennevendo. Off a free kick, Palavecino got off a great right footed shot that forced a great save from Navas and the ball would fall to Garcia, who got off a right footed shot in the area that hit the post. Off a counter, a great cross into the area from Rodrigo Lopez would be terribly misjudged by Gudiño and bounced off him and then off Willer Ditta and went into the net to score the own goal that tied the match at 2-2. Cruz Azul subbed out Erik Lira and Jose Paradela for Christian Ebere and Andres Montaño. Pumas subbed out Adalberto Carrasquilla for Cesar Garza. A cross into the area was headed wide by Ebere. A shot from outside the area by Garcia was deflected and hit the post. A cross into the area would eventually fall to Garcia, who got off a close range header that was brilliantly saved by Navas. It was the last play of the match and with that heroic save, Pumas had held on to get the tie and deny Cruz Azul of another victory in the Estadio Olimpico Universitario.
Pumas’ good 2026 Clausura continued with a tie against one of the teams they have had the most trouble with. Cruz Azul had given Pumas a lot of problems recently especially in the Estadio Olimpico Universitario. The last match up they played there, Cruz Azul got an easy 2-0 win. The last time they faced each other though, Pumas got a controversial 3-2 away victory that ended with Carrasquilla injuring goalkeeper Mier, who still hasn’t played since. This left a lot of bad blood between the teams and a lot of eyes were on this match and Pumas was able to get the result. Yet overall Cruz Azul had been the better team and Pumas were lucky to get the tie after going down to 10 players. If not for a terrible mistake by Cruz Azul’s goalkeeper, Andres Gudiño, it would have been possible that Cruz Azul would get the victory. Pumas will now face their most important regular match against Club America and will have to do so without their best defender Nathan, who will miss the match because of the red card. Cruz Azul will face off against Monterrey in their midweek CONCACAF Champions Cup match, where they are heavy favorites with their 3-2 aggregate lead. On Friday they will also be heavy favorites when they travel north to face off against struggling Mazatlan.
