Chávez, Vega, Martín: who’ll be crowned the Apertura 2022’s best Mexican player?

The end of the Apertura 2022 regular season is just around the corner and according to SofaScore, a site that specialises in statistical analysis of the Liga MX, three players are leading the race to finish up as the tournament’s outstanding Mexican player. Pachuca’s Luis Chávez, Chivas Guadalajara’s Alexis Vega and Club América’s Henry Martin will fight it out for the honour on matchday 17 this weekend.

Undoubtedly, this tussle can only add extra spice to the final round of fixtures, in which Martín will not only seek the distinction of being the championship’s best Mexican player, but also bid to secure the league’s top-scorer award. The striker, whose América side take on Puebla on Friday, is one behind Pachuca’s 11-goal Argentine Nicolás Ibáñez.

In Pachuca’s clash with Monterrey, meanwhile, Chávez will look to maintain the level of performance that has earned him a place in the Mexico team since 2020. As for Vega, he will seek to stamp his quality on Chivas’ clash with Cruz Azul, and in the process confirm himself as the Apertura 2022′s most influential Mexican.

Luis Chávez

According to SofaScore data, Chávez has an average match rating of 7.47 - a mark that also leaves him well-placed to be the top performer of any nationality. He’s just 0.03 behind Toluca’s Uruguayan midfielder Leonardo Fernández, who heads the list of the best players in the championship.

Chávez has played 15 matches in the Apertura 2022, all of them as a starter, and has featured for an average of 89 minutes per game. From matchday 12 onwards, his fine displays in consecutive appearances against Santos Laguna, Puebla, Tijuana, Juárez and Atlético San Luis have pushed his overall rating close to the 7.50 mark.

The midfielder has scored two goals to date 16, taking an average of 2.9 shots on goal per match.

Alexis Vega

Chivas forward Vega has an average match rating of 7.35 - 0.12 away from Chávez. Against Cruz Azul, therefore, he needs to put in an exceptional performance if he wants to not only spur his team on to victory, but also reel in Chávez - and, perhaps, Fernández too.

Since matchday 12, Vega has had ups and downs in his displays. He scored a 7.6 against Toluca, but against Tijuana on matchday 13 he dropped to 6.4. Against Puebla, he then recovered for an 8.0 rating, while against Tigres and América he received a 7.1 and 6.7, respectively, the latter score reflecting his inability to make a significant impact on the Súper Clásico.

Vega has played 16 times in the Apertura 2022, 15 as a starter, appearing for an average of 84 minutes. He has scored three goals from an average of 3.6 shots per game, 1.4 of which were on target. He has registered a total of six big chances missed.

Henry Martín

Finally, América’s Martín will have two objectives in Las Águilas’ duel with Puebla. The first will be to overtake Ibáñez and become only the tenth Mexican player in the Liga MX’s short-tournament era to finish the regular season as the leading marksmen.

When it comes to being the best Mexican player in the Apertura 2022, meanwhile, Martin has an average rating of 7.33 - 0.02 behind Vega, 0.14 behind Luis Chávez, and 0.17 behind overall leader Fernández.

Martín has got better and better as the tournament has neared its conclusion, and this is reflected in SofaScore’s analysis of his displays. Having scored a 6.6 against Tigres on matchday 12, he rated 7.0 against San Luis and 6.9 against Necaxa, before picking up a 7.5 and 8.2 against Santos and Chivas, respectively.

Martin has played 16 games, starting 12, with an average of 65 minutes in the pitch. His 10 goals in the Apertura 2022 have come from an average of 2.4 shots per match, with 0.9 on target.