Pachuca’s Óscar Murillo: Neither team is favourite to win the Apertura final

Toluca host Pachuca in the first leg of the Liga MX 2022 Apertura final on Thursday evening (kickoff at 9.06pm ET), with the return leg taking place at Estadio Hidalgo on Sunday 30 Octover (9.06 ET kickoff).

It’s the final that not many of us, if we’re being honest, expected to see. But the clash brings together the two clubs who have amassed the most titles since the short tournament system was implemented in Liga MX in 1996, with Toluca winning on seven occasions, one more than Pachuca.

In addition to the clubs being almost neck-and-beck when it comes to trophy wins in the last 26 years, things have been similarly tight in meetings between the two in ‘Liguilla’ encounters. Once more, Toluca just edge it, winning three ties to Pachuca’s two, while four of the five clashes have been settled by just a single goal.

“He won every challenge (9/9), made 5 interceptions, 5 blocks, won possession back 5 times and, on top of all that, set up a goal. Óscar Murillo kept the Monterrey defence at bay (in the semi-finals).”

And Pachuca defender Óscar Murillo is expecting the 2022 final to be another tight affair. Speaking in an interview to TUDN, he said: “We know that neither team is favourite. The team that shows better levels of concentration and goes for it more is going to win. We hope that’ll be us and that we play well. We’ll be going out to win on Thursday, which we always do, no matter whether we’re playing at home or away. We always go out to win and we hope to put in a good performance.”

The Colombian joined Los Tuzos in 2016, winning that year’s Clausura tournament in his first season at the club. And he has fond memories of that title victory, which is the last achieved by Pachuca: “The best thing that can happen to any soccer player is to win a trophy. I’ve already been lucky enough to win one and we pray that it happens again. We need to give our all to make sure we achieve our goal.”

The former Atlético Nacional man will be one of the first names on manager Guillermo Almada’s team sheet for the final after an impressive comeback from injury. The veteran centre-back missed the first three months of the campaign due to fitness problems but immediately made an impact upon his return in August. Pachuca won five of the first six games they played with Murillo back in the team and 10 of 13 in total since he came out of the treatment room.

Follow all the action when it gets underway on Thursday night.