Atlas showed that he is still moved by the inertia of his current title and the effectiveness of his game that has had him among the main teams in Liga MX, already for a football year.
Chivas in the advantage scenario, at home and with an unbeaten streak of 5 games, could not reverse the 2 goals scored by the Rojinegros, but got even with one in the first leg of the quarterfinals. However, El Rebaño fought until the 98th minute of the game inside the rival area, encountering a defensive wall and leaving the chivabrothers’ hearts beating that longed for a tie.
Jeremy Márquez, a 21-year-old youth squad player, showed Diego Cocca’s project that he could be indisputable in the battle for the two-time championship. He scored both goals, one at minute 27 and the other at 45, rocking coach Ricardo Cadena’s locker room.
In the second half, Chivas woke up and it was Cristian ‘Chicote’ Calderón who injected the spirit with his goal at 53′, which before being validated was questioned and under review by the VAR. Calderón was present in his scoring opportunities from the first quarter of the game.
Altas had at the foot of the cannon, his center forward Julio Furch, the speed of Colombian Julián Quiñones, while “Piojo” Alvarado let go of the equalizing goal at 92′.
El Rebaño was about to keep 10 players, after the referee showed the red card to Miguel Ángel Ponce at minute 89, but the VAR reviewed the play and changed the card to yellow.
The Clásico Tapatío in league will have one more episode next Sunday, now in Jalisco. It will not be enough for Chivas to strive for a tie on the global scoreboard, since his place in the league was via playoffs and Atlas is better placed in the table, so he will have to win by at least two goals. Chivas has the most complicated task to dream of its thirteenth title; the last one he raised in Clausura 2017 with coach Matías Almeyda.