LIGA MX
Liga MX Play In: rules and what happens if the game is tied on 90 minutes
Four teams will battle to secure the last two places in the Liga MX Apertura Liguilla. The winners will face América and Monterrey in the quarter finals.
The final phase of the 2023 Apertura Tournament is underway, the six teams that qualified directly to the Liguilla have already been defined, but there are two places left to fill, which will come from the Play In where four teams will fight to log the last two available places to complete the quarter final lineup of the competition.
Teams who directly qualified for the Apertura 2023 quarter finals
- América
- Monterrey
- Tigres
- Pumas
- Chivas
- Puebla
The Play In features two games: Atlético San Luis vs León and Santos Laguna vs Mazatlán which will both be played on Thursday 23 November. The winner of the first game will qualify in seventh place while the losers will face the winner of the second match this Saturday for a place in the Liguilla, regardless of where they finished in the general table after 17 matchdays of the regular tournament.
Scores level on the whistle
But what happens if there is a tie at the end of 90 minutes? The regulations of the Liga MX, in Article 18, state that, if the score is level at the end of the regulated time, the teams must face each other in a penalty shootout to decide the winner.
“If there is a tie in the number of goals, penalty kicks will be taken in the manner described in article 22, until a winner is found,” the competition regulations state on page 12.
It means that in this instance, the two teams that win the Play In will be rivals of América and Monterrey in the next round; the other two quarter finals are already confirmed: Pumas vs Chivas and Tigres vs Puebla.