Four teams advance to the 2021 Guardianes semi-finals

The 2021 Guardianes tournament in the Liga MX is coming to an end and only four teams are left in the fight to lift the league title this year. Cruz Azul remain the team to beat after finishing in first place at the end of the regular season and defeating Toluca 4-2 on aggregate in the quarter final.

The ‘Machine’ wants to end their 24 year title drought

The last time Cruz Azul won the league title was in December 1997 after defeating Club León 2-1 on aggregate and obtaining the eighth trophy in their history. Since then they have failed to lift the trophy year after year, but it seems that 2021 could be the end of their 24-year title drought with Jonthan Rodríguez being in top form and scoring 24 goals through the regular season and play-offs.

The ‘Machine’ were the top seeded team after 17 match days and they will face Pachuca, who eliminated Club América on their way to the semi-final. The first leg will be played at the Estadio Hidalgo, home of ‘Los Tuzos’, on 19 May and with the return leg three days later at the Azteca stadium.

Puebla has been one of the pleasant surprises of the 2021 Guardianes tournament; they eliminated Atlas to book their ticket to the semi-final. They finished in third place at the end of the regular season and now they will face Santos Luga, who eliminated Monterrey, in hopes that they can advance to the final.

The first leg of the semi-final will be played on 20 May at the Corona stadium and the second leg will be played on 23 May at the Cuauhtémoc stadium. Santos finished in fifth place after 17 match days and they have become a difficult team to beat at home during the play-offs.

They defeated Querétaro 5-0 in the wild card round and defeated Monterrey 3-1 on aggregate in the quarter final. Four teams are left and by the end of this week, we will know the two teams that will face off in the final.