LIGA MX
When Atlas inflicted the worst humiliation on Chivas in a Clásico Tapatío: truth or fiction?
In 1917, the red and blacks are said to have beaten the Rebaño Sagrado with a scandalous 18-0 but, given the evidence, Chivas fans refuse to accept the result.
More than a hundred years have passed, but the story of the Atlas 18-0 thrashing of Chivas in the Clásico Tapatío is still on everyone’s lips. On the eve of yet another confrontation between the rojinegros and the rojiblancos, it generates all kinds of controversies.
What was the biggest win in Atlas vs Chivas?
Atlas fans always put this scoreline first when the Chivas fans start taunting them. Those from Chivas deny such a result ever happened and, instead, assure anyone listening that the game was cascarita (friendly) and not an official duel, disputed in 1917 in the old Parque Revolución.
The humiliation story gained momentum when the newspaper El Informador published a match report in 1965, which showed a photograph accompanied by a 18-0 scoreline. Jaime ‘Tubo’ Gómez, emblematic goalkeeper of the Rebaño, then referred to the information as “a monument of lies”.
Over time, this meeting has been the spearhead of the controversies between the two fans, as well as the stories of several footballers who have worn both shirts. The list is not short: Celestino Morales, Oswaldo Sánchez, Jorge García Rulfo, Omar Bravo, Isaac Brizuela, Antonio Briseño, Cristian Calderón, Juan Pablo “Chato’ Rodríguez, Jared Borgetti, Néstor Vidrio, José de Jesús Corona, Ignacio Calderón, Fernando Quirarte, Luis Manuel ‘Pituko’ López, Guadalupe Castañeda, José Luis Real, Isidoro “Chololo” Díaz, Alonso Sandoval, Daniel ‘Travieso’ Guzmán, Carlos Ochoa, Hans Friessen, Francisco Avilán, Juan Manuel Olague, Jaime Pajarito, Luis Flores, Sergio Pacheco, Damián Alvarez, Gerardo Mascareño, Jair García, Manuel Martínez, Juan ‘Chapetes’ Gómez, Ángel Vázquez, Salvador Espinoza, Gilberto Adame, Amaury Ponce, Julio Estrada, David Mendoza, Max Prieto, Guillermo “Pititus’ Torres, and many others.
These competitors have given a spice to this fixture, one that polarises the ‘Pearl Tapatia’.
The records between Atlas and Chivas are more balanced in the shorter tournaments since 1996. In 64 games, Chivas has won 24, to 19 for the red and blacks.
Missed Panenka penalty by ‘Ponchito’ González
At just 20 years old, Luis Alfonso ‘Ponchito’ González, who emerged from the rojinegra youth academy, took a penalty in stoppage time in the 2015 Clausura Clásico Tapatío tied at one goal each. ‘Ponchito’ shot in the style of the Czech player Panenka, chipping the ball to raise it gently and deceive the goalkeeper, but Luis Ernesto Michel was aware and made the save. With this, Atlas failed to win the match. This gesture increased the ridicule of rojiblancos.
Invasion at the Jalisco stadium
In that same season, Atlas and Chivas returned to the Liguilla for the title. In the second leg, after they had drawn goalless in the first, the Rebaño Sagrado won with three goals from Marco Fabián. The result led to a dangerous invasion of Atlas fans, which put the players at risk.
What stories will be written after the latest encounter?