Cruz Azul will remain at the top of the table after defeating Tijuana 4-2

Cruz Azul continue to give solid performances week after week in this Clausura 2020. This Saturday they hosted Tijuana for the 9th week of the current semester and gave a solid performance by defeating Xolos 4-2.

With this result Cruz Azul remain at the top of the table with 19 points, two more than second-placed América, and Xolos are pretty much out of the playoff picture with their third loss in a row.

After defeating Morelia last week, Cruz Azul returned home with their sights set on maintaining first place after América had drawn on Friday night. Things didn’t start well for the home team because Tijuana’s captain, Ignacio Rivero, scored the first goal of the game. This was the seventh goal of Xolos in the tournament.

The home team then equalised in the 40th minute after a great header from Jonathan Rodríguez and, five minutes later, just before the first half ended, Roberto Alvarado's shot from outside the box gave Cruz Azul a 2-1 lead.

The second half started how the first one ended, with Cruz Azul dominant - and in the 59th minute, Alvarado scored his second goal of the game. Despite being 3-1 down, though, Xolos would not give up that easily.

In the 61st minute, Mauro Lainez crossed the ball to Erick Torres, who scored the second goal for Tijuana, and now the visiting team was only down by one. But when a leveller seemed imminent, Alvarado assisted Julio César Domínguez to give Cruz Azul a 4-2 advantage in the 73rd minute.

With this result, Cruz Azul will remain at the top for the second week in a row and will prepare to face LAFC at the Banc of California Stadium on Thursday for the first leg of the quarter-final of the CONCACAF Champions League.