Club León wins 8th title after defeating Pumas UNAM in the 2020 Guardianes final
The team from Guanajuato defeated Pumas UNAM 2-0 at the Nou Camp in the second leg of the final of the 2020 Guardianes tournament on Sunday night.
On Thursday, in the first leg of the final of the 2020 Guardianes tournament played at the Olímpico Universitario, Club León scored a late goal to level the game against Pumas. On Sunday they met again for the second leg at the Nou Camp, a place where León hasn’t lost a game since 30 November, so Pumas had a difficult task ahead of them.
The first half started with León pressuring high Pumas and the hard work would pay off, because at the 12 minute, Emmanuel Gigliotti would receive a great through ball from Angel Mena and the Argentine striker shot a cannon with his right foot to score the first goal of the night. Pumas would answer back with some danger, but nothing that León’s defense or goalkeeper could not handle.
Injuries affected the flow of the game
During the 90 minutes the injuries affected the game. In the first half Mena couldn’t keep going after assisting Gigliotti and he had to be replaced in the 15th minute by Joel Campbell. Then Pumas midfielder Gutierrez asked for a sub at the 39th minute and Iturbe took his place.
León ended the first 45 minutes with the lead and Pumas were having a hard time keeping possession of the ball. In the second half the visiting team would have to make another forced substitution when Johan Vásquez clashed heads with Mosquera and the defender had to be replaced due to a possible concussion. Favio Álvarez took his place in the 59th minute of the game.
The second half was very choppy and before the 83rd minute of the game there wasn’t a clear shot on goal from either team. Until Pumas UNAM lost the ball in the midfield and ‘Chapo’ Montes gave a magnificent through ball to Yair Moreno who dribbled past a defender inside the box and shot with his left foot to beat Talavera and give León the win of 2-0.
León was the best team of the regular season and they demonstrated that they had what it takes to win the 2020 Guardianes tournament. With the victory over Pumas, they now add eight Liga MX titles and are amongst the five teams with more trophies in the history of Mexican football.