Pumas and Cruz Azul clash in Concacaf semifinals; record favors celestial

Pumas and Cruz Azul star in one of the semifinals in the Concacaf Champions League. The first match of the will take place on the court of the University Olympic Stadium with the Machine as the light favorite to take the match and the key. It is scheduled for 9:00 p.m. this Tuesday, April 5th. In the statistics of the international tournament, the celestial ones outperform the university students with two series won out of two contested.

The record dictates that both clubs have met in the 2008-09 and 2009-10 editions, both with wins from Cruz Azul. The first of them in the quarterfinals and the second, in the prelude to the final. The first time they clashed the series, they had an overall score of two goals by zero, one score per game. In the first leg Jaime Lozano was the goalscorer, while in the return was Paraguayan Cristian Riveros.

A year later, for the second consecutive tournament, they met again. Now in the semifinals. The story began with the Pumas winning the first commitment by a goal by zero thanks to the actions of Pablo Barrera. However, the final game resulted in a large score in favor of the celestes: five scores to zero (overall five by one). The people responsible for that rout were Riveros, Horacio Cervantes, Adrián Cortes, Rogelio Chavez and Gerardo Lugo.

Now, the capitals face each other in the international championship with the final in mind. Pumas opens at home, where he must achieve a result in favor if he wants to keep his hopes alive for the closing of the key that will take place at the Azteca Stadium next Tuesday, April 12 at 21:00 hours.

“We always have attractive matches with Cruz Azul because we both want to win, we don't speculate and that makes the audience have good shows. I expect something more studied and more closed at first. Reynoso always raises games of going forward that is why we make matches blow by blow that become attractive and open series. I hope we win, that is our goal, but without suffering,” said Andrés Lillini, university technician.

Regarding the relevance of the game, he said that “we are going with all the meat to the grill, it is a unique opportunity, it is a beautiful competition to play it and not let it go. For us sportsmanship it is something that this group earned and sought it. Everyone is available and we will go with the best we have this 180-minute match.”

On the other hand, Juan Reynoso, coach at La Noria, assured that the series is not a rematch (in relation to the elimination of his team against Pumas in the 2020 Apertura where after a score of four by zero, he was reached and surpassed by a better position in the table).

“If I were an amateur, I would like it to be spectacular, but as a coach we will try to surprise, and that we can neutralize them in their closed situations. It's going to be a closed series, I don't think it will be a lot of goals, and if so, I hope they are from us. I don't believe in debts or revenges, I believe in the demands of the squad and getting into the final for what this club represents. We have to make a very smart series, respect every moment of the game and capture what we know,” said the coach who made the club champion after more than 23 years.

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