How many times have Cruz Azul and América lost on the opening day of the Liga MX?

The Liga MX Apertura 2023 kicked off this weekend with one or two surprising results. It’s not the first, nor the only time that both Cruz Azul and América begin their respective campaigns with a defeat since the short tournament format was introduced - the sky-blues have suffered four previous defeats on the opening day, making Saturday’s against Atlas, their fifth since the Apertura 1996, when the new competition format was implemented.

For América, the 1-2 defeat to Juárez 1-2 in front of their own fans was a heavy blow - and something that had not happened since the Clausura 2019 when they were beaten 1-3 by Necaxa in the first game of the regular season.

Prior to that, the Máquina’s previous opening day defeats in the short tournament era were to Santos Laguna (1-0 in the Guardianes Clausura 2019), 0-1 to Atlético San Luis in the Apertura 2007, a 3-1 defeat to Puebla in the Apertura 2004 and a 2-1 reverse to Necaxa 2-1 in the Winter 1999 tournament.

América’s other four opening day defeats were to Necaxa (1-3 in the Clausura 2019), Querétaro (0-1 in the Apertura 2017), Pachuca (0-2 in the Clausura 2011) and to León, 2-3 in the Winter 1997 tournament.

For both Cruz Azul and América, the weekend’s matches represented the 28th time they have been involved in the opening day in the Mexican top flight, in which the Cruzazulinos have registered nine victories, 14 draws and five defeats, while the Coapa team has recorded 17 victories, six draws and five defeats.