Cruz Azul makes history and achieves a points record by tying with Tigres

Mexico City. Cruz Azul made history. On the night that the Ciudad de los Deportes stadium reopened, closed by the Benito Juárez mayor’s office for five days due to non-compliance with civil protection measures, La Maquina tied on the hour against Tigres (1-1) and closed its regular campaign in the Liga Mx as the leader with 42 points, a historic figure in a 17-date tournament.

Ángel Sepúlveda’s goal, suspended in the air to finish off a cross passed to the far post, shook a crowd like few other times that never stopped believing despite being at a disadvantage (90+8). The cats lost Frenchman André-Pierre Gignac in 10 minutes, who asked for his replacement as soon as he could, after experiencing discomfort in his right leg. Nicolás Ibáñez came on in his relief and was in charge of carrying out the same tasks, with the 1-0 penalty that seemed to set the course of the game (88).

Although the process was tough, Sepúlveda appeared in the final minutes as the hero that every fantastic story needs. In added time and after missing at least two clear chances against goalkeeper Nahuel Guzmán, the national team waited for its moment and headed a cross from Ignacio Rivero to give La Maquina a tie that will go down in the history of short tournaments. 13 wins, 3 draws and only one defeat, a record for all time.

As part of the new security measures around the stadium, police from the Secretariat of Citizen Security carried out the instruction to arrest anyone who drank alcoholic beverages in public. About 30 fans, most of them wearing Cruz Azul shirts, were arrested and put on one of the transport trucks when they found beer cans in the streets. “We come with children and as a family, we don’t cause problems. “Why do they act with so much violence?” asked relatives a few meters from Gate 10, where the atmosphere became more tense as game time arrived.

“They ask us for 3 thousand pesos to free them. “Where are we going to get that money from now?” said Mr. Arturo Gómez, who traveled five hours by truck with his family from Tolapa, Veracruz, behind a metal fence, to see La Maquina in Mexico City. The situation was even more complicated on the borders of the neighboring neighborhoods – Naples, Del Valle, Ciudad de los Deportes and Nochebuena -, fenced with protective tape to prevent hundreds of motorists from parking their cars as usual. “Only owners and inhabitants with identification,” the officers asked.

While the stands were once again full, the head of the Benito Juárez mayor’s office, Luis Mendoza, supervised compliance with civil protection regulations from the outside from a tent that the authorities set up at access 15. The building remained closed for five days, due to to the holding of almost simultaneous events next to the Plaza de Toros México. On social networks, the operators of the Ciudad de los Deportes recommended that attendees occupy the boxes of the World Trade Center with a rate of 105 pesos for eight hours. Round-trip transportation was offered, based on availability.