Leon vs. Cruz Azul – Game Report – July 18, 2021 – ESPN

Cruz Azul was crowned Champion of Champions by the hand of Jonathan Rodríguez. The Machine, who was left with 10 men at 80 ‘after the expulsion of Yoshimar Yotún, suffered in the end, but beat León 2-1 at the Dignity Health Sports Park, with a double from the’ Cabecita ‘, while Santiago Ormeño did the only so much of the emeralds.

Both teams gave an attractive game from the first moments. Every ball was played with intensity, which made for a good show. León, at minute six, was the first to knock on the door with a shot from José Rodríguez that passed over the sky.

The Machine responded with a header from Pablo Aguilar on a corner kick at 11 ‘. However, Iván Vázquez Mellado gave away the first big picture of the afternoon, with a flight to get a right slap and prevent the Paraguayan defender from scoring.

Cruz Azul was the one who had the ball the longest, but León took advantage of it to damage counterattacks, as he did at 14 ‘, with a deep pass to Emmanuel Gigliotti, who took a powerful shot to demand Jesús Corona, goalkeeper who reacted to send the ball to a corner kick.

Guillermo Fernández appeared at 24 ‘. ‘Pol’ made a cut and adjusted the ball to take the shot, which barely passed deviated from León’s goal.

The emeralds once again gave away a soccer stake at 39 ‘. The beast took a corner kick that went to the second post, where Ángel Mena appeared, who sent the ball to the center of the area, an area in which Andrés Mosquera finished off as a Chilean. However, the ball ended up crashing into the post.

The Machine wove the first goal of the game from the right wing, an area in which Guillermo Fernández and Juan Escobar met, so that finally the Paraguayan sent a powerful low center to the first post, where Jonathan Rodríguez appeared, who anticipated his mark to push the ball into the nets half an hour from the end of regular time.

With 1-0 on the scoreboard, León turned to attack, a situation that Cruz Azul took advantage of to make the second of the game, at 67 ‘, in a play in which Santiago Giménez sent a pass into space to Jonathan Rodríguez. The ‘Cabecita’ surpassed the emerald defenders by speed and stopped in front of Iván Vázquez Mellado, goalkeeper whom he beat with a great definition.

The panorama changed for the Machine at 80 ‘with the expulsion of Yoshimar Yotún, who saw the red card for a double yellow card, the last of them for faking a foul inside the area and just a minute later Santiago Ormeño appeared to make it 2-1 with a powerful shot that, although Jesús Corona put his hands in it, the force caused the round to end in the nets.

León went on the attack to find the goal that would allow him to send the match to penalties. However, he did not have forcefulness, in addition to losing by a red card to Fidel Ambríz, for which Cruz Azul was proclaimed Champion of Champions of Mexican soccer.