André Jardine insists América are not favorites in the Clásico Nacional

América posted their biggest win of the season so far, beating Atlas 1-5 at Jalisco stadium on Saturday to keep the pressure bubbling at the top of the Liga MX standings. Now, the Águilas turn their attentions back to the CONCACAF Champions Cup with the first leg of their Round of 16 against archenemies Chivas on Wednesday night. André Jardine’s team will stay in Guadalajara to prepare for the match but the coach was keen to make it clear that there are no favorites in the Clásicos of Mexican soccer - even though on paper, his side might appear to have the edge.

In-depth analysis of Chivas

”We’re still enjoying and digesting the win over Atlas. We’re think about what we can improve, what we can do better. From tomorrow, the focus will be on Chivas. We will do a complete and thorough study of the rival as we always do. We will set out a game plan, knowing that this is a Clásico and there are no favorites. We must give the best possible version of ourselves,” the Brazilian coach explained.

América’s strategy is going to plan

”Our first objective is these Chivas games. We know that we have to go into both games in our best possible moment. The players needed this run of good results to be in this moment. We have key players back from injury - the best news is that we are now have a full squad. Néstor, Henry played the full 90 minutes, Richard is back playing... it’s the way we planned. There is a certain moment in which you must be ready for these moments. Things went well for us today. We were rewarded for rotating the team, and got the continuity we needed. It’s a good feeling - I agree that it’s one of the first decisions I’ve had to make this season, it will be a quite interesting to see how we line up on Wednesday,” the coach added.

Turning back to the league and Saturday’s victory, Jardine continued: “It was an important victory for us. It’s always difficult to play here. From what I have seen, Atlas have been playing well and the final score defined how the game panned out after the sending-off [Anderson Santamaria] but on our part, we remained focused. High-scoring games happen due to circumstances - sometimes when you are up against an opponent who takes more risks. There are games where the ball goes in and others when it doesn’t, it’s normal. As a team, we need to be more effective in games like this, but the toughest games, the one where we have to stay attentive, and be solid in defence, there are generally fewer chances - we hope to score more goals,” he said.

To conclude, the coach gave his thought on Eduardo Aguirre’s opener for Atlas on 7 minutes which forced his players to respond. ”The goal we conceded early on didn’t faze us at all; it’s a dead ball situation, and you have to be mentally ready for the circumstances of the game. At other times, the circumstances are in your favor, you have to control the game. I saw the team playing very well before the goal, we had chances to go ahead and we missed a few chances. But we didn’t shut down mentally. The missed penalty is not a huge deal, Henry is mentally strong and will get over it. It’s another reason for him to keep plugging away. We have seen today that the team is very strong”.