Chivas into Clausura 2023 playoffs: how many times have they won 34 points?

This is a historic Chivas Guadalajara side. In head coach Veljko Paunovic’s first campaign in Mexico, Los Rojiblancos have finished the Clausura 2023 regular season with 34 points, equalling their best ever haul in the short-tournament era. Their total of 10 wins is also their joint-highest in a league phase since the current format was introduced in 1996.

Highest Liga MX points haul in nearly 20 years

After rounded off their regular season with a 4-1 thumping of bottom club Mazatlán on Saturday, Chivas now head into the playoffs with excitement growing among their fans. Having matched their points tallies of the Verano 1997, Invierno 1998 and Clausura 2004 regular seasons, the 12-time Mexican champions are shaping up as firm contenders for the title.

Chivas’ comprehensive win over Mazatlán sealed a third-placed finish in the Clausura 2023 regular season, earning the Guadalajarans automatic qualification for the playoffs proper for the first time since the preliminary postseason round was reintroduced in the Guardianes 2020. It is also where they placed in the Clausura 2017, under Matías Almeyda, when they won their most recent championship.

Chivas round of regular season at euphoric Estadio Akron

Chivas needed to beat Mazatlán at the Estadio Akron to make sure they held on to third in the table, and went after the three points from the get-go. In the 12th minute, Rubén González fed a midfield ball to Alan Mozo, who in turn played it to Carlos Cisneros on the right wing. Cisneros looked up and delivered into the box, where Víctor Guzmán rose highest to bullet a header into the net.

Having taken an early lead, Paunovic’s men kept their foot firmly on the gas. Receiving the ball in the right-hand channel some 10 minutes later, Fernando Beltrán saw Alexis Vega’s run into the area, but his pass to the forward was slightly behind him. Vega managed to control nonetheless, before shooting low. His strike was straight at Daniel Gutiérrez, but the Mazatlán goalkeeper inexplicably let it slip through his hands and over the line.

Mazatlán reacted right away. Receiving a bouncing cross from the left, Miguel Sansores nodded down to Andrés Montalo, who connected with a first-time, left-footed shot from the edge of the box. There was too much power on it for Chivas keeper Miguel Jiménez, and the visitors had halved the deficit.

Vega makes sure of points after Sepúlveda heroics

At the start of the second half, Chivas survived a golden opportunity for the visitors to equalise - and, soon after, were 3-1 ahead. In the 50th minute, Mazatlán’s Nicolás Benedetti cut the ball back in the area to Sansores, with Jiménez out of his goal - but defender Gilberto Sepúlveda produced a heroic clearance on the line. Six minutes later, Vega laid the ball off for Beltrán 20 yards out, and ‘El Nene’ produced a sublime precision finish into Gutiérrez’s right-hand corner.

There was more to come for the hosts. With a quarter of an hour remaining in Guadalajara, Vega advanced down the left flank, before threading an inch-perfect diagonal ball into the path of the overlapping Cristian Calderón. From the byline, ‘El Chicote’ cut it back to the penalty spot, where Isaac Brizuela was on hand to sweep a first-time finish into the far corner.