Apertura 2018 Liga MX final phase

The Apertura 2018 Liga MX championship stage commonly known as Liguilla (mini league) was played from 28 November 2018 to 16 December 2018.^[1] A total of eight teams competed in the championship stage to decide the champions of the Apertura 2018 Liga MX season. Both finalists qualified to the 2020 CONCACAF Champions League.

Apertura 2018 Liga MX final phase

← Clausura 2018 Clausura 2019 →

Qualified teams

The following 8 teams qualified for the championship stage.

In the following table, the number of appearances, last appearance, and previous best result count only those in the short tournament era starting from Invierno 1996 (not counting those in the long tournament era from 1943–44 to 1995–96).

Team	Seed	Points	Appearance	Last appearance	Previous best	Ref.
Cruz Azul	1	36	28th	Apertura 2017	Champions (Invierno 1997)	[2]
América	2	33	31st	Clausura 2018	Champions (4 times)	[3]
UNAM	3	30 (+10)	22nd		Champions (4 times)	[4]
Santos Laguna	4	30 (+9)	29th		Champions (6 times)	[5]
Monterrey	5	30 (+6)	21st		Champions (3 times)	[6]
UANL	6	29	23rd		Champions (4 times)	[7]
Toluca	7	26 (+5)	32nd		Champions (7 times)	[8]
Querétaro	8	26 (–1)	10th[note 1]	Clausura 2015	Runners-up (Clausura 2015)	[9][10]

Format

• Teams were re-seeded each round.
• Team with more goals on aggregate after two matches advanced.
• Away goals rule was applied in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, but not the final.
• In the quarter-finals and semi-finals, if the two teams were tied on aggregate and away goals, the higher seeded team advanced.
• In the final, if the two teams were tied after both legs, the match went to extra time and, if necessary, a shoot-out.
• Both finalists qualified to the 2020 CONCACAF Champions League.

^[11]

Bracket

	Quarter-finals							Semi-finals							Finals
	1	Cruz Azul	2	1	3
	8	Querétaro	0	1	1
								1	Cruz Azul (s)	0	1	1
								5	Monterrey	1	0	1
	4	Santos Laguna	0	0	0
	5	Monterrey	1	2	3
															1	Cruz Azul	0	0	0
															2	América	0	2	2
	2	América	2	3	5
	7	Toluca	2	2	4
								2	América	1	6	7
								3	UNAM	1	1	2
	3	UNAM	1	3	4
	6	UANL	2	1	3

Quarter-finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Querétaro	1–3	Cruz Azul	0–2	1–1
Toluca	4–5	América	2–2	2–3
UANL	3–4	UNAM	2–1	1–3
Monterrey	3–0	Santos Laguna	1–0	2–0

All times are UTC−5

First leg

28 November 2018

19:00

Querétaro	0–2	Cruz Azul
	Report	Aguilar 16' Méndez 60'

Estadio Corregidora, Querétaro City

Attendance: 29,039

Referee: Diego Montaño Robles (Jalisco)

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28 November 2018

21:06

Monterrey	1–0	Santos Laguna
Funes Mori 60'	Report

Estadio BBVA Bancomer, Guadalupe

Attendance: 24,723

Referee: Luis Enrique Santander (Guanajuato)

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29 November 2018

19:00

Toluca	2–2	América
Tobio 24' Vega 90+6'	Report	Aguilera 7' Valdez 26'

Estadio Nemesio Díez, Toluca

Attendance: 26,031

Referee: Marco Antonio Ortiz (Durango)

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29 November 2018

21:00

UANL	2–1	UNAM
Aquino 68' Dueñas 81'	Report	Mora 9'

Estadio Universitario, San Nicolás de los Garza

Attendance: 41,301

Referee: Oscar Macías Romo (Aguascalientes)

Second leg

1 December 2018

19:00

Cruz Azul	1–1	Querétaro
Hernández 4'	Report	Romo 61'

Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

Attendance: 30,858

Referee: Jorge Antonio Pérez (Veracruz)

Cruz Azul won 3–1 on aggregate.

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1 December 2018

21:00

Santos Laguna	0–2	Monterrey
	Report	Sánchez 53' Funes Mori 59'

Estadio Corona, Torreón

Attendance: 25,900

Referee: Jorge Isaac Rojas (Mexico City)

Monterrey won 3–0 on aggregate.

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2 December 2018

12:00

UNAM	3–1	UANL
C. González 52' Mora 59' Alustiza 90+2'	Report	Saldívar 54' (o.g.)

Estadio Olímpico Universitario, Mexico City

Attendance: 35,300

Referee: Fernando Guerrero (Mexico City)

UNAM won 4–3 on aggregate.

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2 December 2018

18:30

América	3–2	Toluca
Martínez 3' Valdez 24' Aguilar 56'	Report	Sambueza 68' William 87'

Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

Attendance: 44,118

Referee: César Arturo Ramos (Sinaloa)

América won 5–4 on aggregate.

Semi-finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Monterrey	1–1 (s)	Cruz Azul	1–0	0–1
UNAM	2–7	América	1–1	1–6

All times are UTC−5

First leg

5 December 2018

20:06

Monterrey	1–0	Cruz Azul
Pizarro 4'	Report

Estadio BBVA Bancomer, Guadalupe

Attendance: 36,621

Referee: César Arturo Ramos (Sinaloa)

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6 December 2018

20:45

UNAM	1–1	América
Rodríguez 51'	Report	Lainez 21'

Estadio Olímpico Universitario, Mexico City

Attendance: 49,345

Referee: Luis Enrique Santander (Guanajuato)

Second leg

8 December 2018

19:00

Cruz Azul	1–0	Monterrey
Caraglio 55'	Report

Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

Attendance: 39,307

Referee: Fernando Guerrero (Mexico City)

1–1 on aggregate and tied on away goals. Cruz Azul advanced for being the higher seed in the classification table.

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9 December 2018

18:45

América	6–1	UNAM
Ibarra 8' Valdez 28' Martínez 36' Rodríguez 46' Lainez 50' Aguilera 71' (pen.)	Report	C. González 24'

Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

Attendance: 64,039

Referee: Jorge Isaac Rojas (Mexico City)

América won 7–2 on aggregate.

Finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
América	2–0	Cruz Azul	0–0	2–0

First leg

13 December 2018

20:30

América	0–0	Cruz Azul
	Report

Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

Attendance: 59,244

Referee: Fernando Guerrero (Mexico City)

Details

América[12][13]

Cruz Azul[12][13]

GK 1 Agustín Marchesín DF 3 Jorge Sánchez DF 19 Emanuel Aguilera  90+7' DF 18 Bruno Valdez DF 22 Paul Aguilar (c)  90+3' MF 14 Joe Corona MF 5 Guido Rodríguez MF 20 Diego Lainez  70' MF 8 Mateus Uribe  58' MF 30 Renato Ibarra  42' FW 9 Roger Martínez  80' Substitutions: GK 27 Óscar Jiménez DF 4 Edson Álvarez DF 12 Luis Reyes MF 10 Cecilio Domínguez  80' MF 11 Andrés Ibargüen  70' FW 21 Henry Martín FW 24 Oribe Peralta  58' Manager: Miguel Herrera

GK 1 José de Jesús Corona (c) DF 16 Adrián Aldrete DF 5 Igor Lichnovsky DF 2 Pablo Aguilar DF 4 Julio César Domínguez MF 23 Iván Marcone  90+3' MF 8 Javier Salas MF 11 Elías Hernández  78' MF 25 Roberto Alvarado MF 17 Édgar Méndez  88' FW 9 Milton Caraglio  89'  18' Substitutions: GK 12 Guillermo Allison DF 27 José Madueña DF 30 Jordan Silva MF 13 Ángel Mena MF 22 Rafael Baca  78' FW 7 Martín Cauteruccio  89' FW 18 Andrés Rentería Manager: Pedro Caixinha

Assistant referees: Marvin Torrentera (Mexico City) Alberto Morin Méndez (Chihuahua) Fourth official: Luis Enrique Santander (Guanajuato) Video assistant referee:[14] Miguel Ángel Chacón (Guerrero) Assistant video assistant referee:[15] Quetzalli Alvarado (Mexico City)

Statistics

Statistic[16]	América	Cruz Azul
Goals scored	0	0
Total shots	8	7
Shots on target	2	1
Saves	1	2
Ball possession	52%	48%
Corner kicks	2	2
Fouls committed	15	14
Offsides	1	3
Yellow cards	3	3
Red cards	0	0

Second leg

16 December 2018

18:30

Cruz Azul	0–2	América
	Report	Álvarez 51', 90'

Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

Attendance: 71,240^[17]

Referee: César Arturo Ramos (Sinaloa)

América won 2–0 on aggregate.

Details

Cruz Azul[18][19]

América[18][19]

GK 1 José de Jesús Corona (c) DF 16 Adrián Aldrete  81' DF 5 Igor Lichnovsky DF 2 Pablo Aguilar DF 4 Julio César Domínguez MF 11 Elías Hernández MF 8 Javier Salas  58' MF 23 Iván Marcone MF 17 Édgar Méndez FW 7 Martín Cauteruccio  46'  16' FW 9 Milton Caraglio Substitutions: GK 12 Guillermo Allison DF 15 Gerardo Flores  87' DF 27 José Madueña MF 13 Ángel Mena  81' MF 22 Rafael Baca MF 25 Roberto Alvarado  46'  82' FW 18 Andrés Rentería  58' Manager: Pedro Caixinha

GK 1 Agustín Marchesín DF 3 Jorge Sánchez  45+1' DF 19 Emanuel Aguilera  40' DF 18 Bruno Valdez DF 22 Paul Aguilar MF 20 Diego Lainez  84' MF 4 Edson Álvarez MF 5 Guido Rodríguez MF 30 Renato Ibarra  70' FW 24 Oribe Peralta (c)  77'  64' FW 21 Henry Martín Substitutions: GK 27 Óscar Jiménez DF 12 Luis Reyes MF 10 Cecilio Domínguez  70' MF 11 Andrés Ibargüen  84'  86' MF 14 Joe Corona  77' FW 17 Cristian Insaurralde FW 23 Antonio López Manager: Miguel Herrera

Assistant referees: José Luis Camargo (Estado de México) Marcos Quintero (Jalisco) Fourth official: Jorge Isaac Rojas (Mexico City) Video assistant referee: Ángel Monroy (Morelos)

Statistics

Statistic[20]	Cruz Azul	América
Goals scored	0	2
Total shots	5	12
Shots on target	0	9
Saves	7	0
Ball possession	55%	45%
Corner kicks	0	3
Fouls committed	11	21
Offsides	1	0
Yellow cards	2	4
Red cards	1	0

Statistics

Goalscorers

3 goals

• Bruno Valdez (América)

2 goals

• Emanuel Aguilera (América)
• Edson Álvarez (América)
• Carlos González (UNAM)
• Rogelio Funes Mori (Monterrey)
• Diego Lainez (América)
• Roger Martínez (América)
• Felipe Mora (UNAM)

1 goal

• Pablo Aguilar (Cruz Azul)
• Paul Aguilar (América)
• Matías Alustiza (UNAM)
• Javier Aquino (UANL)
• Milton Caraglio (Cruz Azul)
• William (Toluca)
• Jesús Dueñas (UANL)
• Elías Hernández (Cruz Azul)
• Renato Ibarra (América)
• Édgar Méndez (Cruz Azul)
• Rodolfo Pizarro (Monterrey)
• Guido Rodríguez (América)
• Martín Rodríguez (UNAM)
• Luis Romo (Querétaro)
• Rubens Sambueza (Toluca)
• Nicolás Sánchez (Monterrey)
• Fernando Tobio (Toluca)
• Alexis Vega (Toluca)

Own goal

• Alfredo Saldívar (for UANL)

Assists

4 assists

• Mateus Uribe (América)

2 assists

• Adrián Aldrete (Cruz Azul)
• Renato Ibarra (América)
• Víctor Malcorra (UNAM)
• Oribe Peralta (América)
• Carlos Rodríguez (Monterrey)

1 assist

• Paul Aguilar (América)
• Javier Aquino (UANL)
• Pablo Barrera (UNAM)
• Cecilio Domínguez (América)
• Carlos González (UNAM)
• Avilés Hurtado (Monterrey)
• Édgar Méndez (Cruz Azul)
• Alan Mozo (UNAM)
• Dorlan Pabón (Monterrey)
• Guido Pizarro (UANL)
• Rubens Sambueza (Toluca)
• Jorge Sánchez (América)
• Enrique Triverio (Toluca)

Notes

1. Includes the appearances of the original Jaguares de Chiapas franchise (2002–2013), which is how the franchise was previously known as.