Apertura 2021 Liga MX final phase

The Torneo Grita México Apertura 2021 (stylized as Grita... México A21) Liga MX final phase^[1] was being played between 20 November and 12 December 2021.^[2] A total of twelve teams competed in the final phase to decide the champions of the Apertura 2021 Liga MX season.^[3] For the third straight season, an additional qualifying round, the reclassification or repechaje, was employed, which expands the number of playoff spots to 12.

Apertura 2021 Liga MX final phase

Tournament details
Dates	20 November – 12 December 2021
Teams	12
Tournament statistics
Matches played	18
Goals scored	43 (2.39 per match)
Attendance	527,242 (29,291 per match)
← Guardianes 2021 Clausura 2022 →

Both finalists qualified to the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League.

Atlas defeated León on penalty kicks to win their second title.

Qualified teams

The following teams qualified for the championship stage.

In the following tables, 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).

Qualified directly to quarter-finals (4 teams)

Seed	Team	Points (GD)	Date of qualification	Appearance	Last appearance	Previous best	Ref.
1	América	34	17 October 2021 (REC) 24 October 2021 (QF)	36th	Guardianes 2021	Champions (5 times)	[4]
2	Atlas	29 (+11)	25 October 2021 (REC) 4 November 2021 (QF)	23rd		Runners-up (Verano 1999)	[5]
3	León	29 (+6)	3 November 2021 (REC) 6 November 2021 (QF)	14th		Champions (3 times)	[6]
4	UANL	28	30 October 2021 (REC) 6 November 2021 (QF)	28th		Champions (5 times)	[7]

Qualified to Reclassification round (8 teams)

Seed	Team	Points (GD)	Date of qualification	Appearance	Last appearance	Previous best	Ref.
5	Santos Laguna	24 (+7)	4 November 2021	33rd	Guardianes 2021	Champions (6 times)	[8]
6	Toluca	24 (0, 22 GF)	31 October 2021	35th		Champions (7 times)	[9]
7	Puebla	24 (0, 16 GF)	5 November 2021	10th		Semifinals (3 times)	[10]
8	Cruz Azul	23	3 November 2021	31st		Champions (2 times)	[11]
9	Monterrey	22 (+3)	6 November 2021	26th		Champions (4 times)	[12]
10	Guadalajara	22 (0)	5 November 2021	28th		Champions (3 times)	[13]
11	UNAM	21	7 November 2021	24th	Guardianes 2020	Champions (4 times)	[14]
12	Atlético San Luis	20	7 November 2021	1st	Debut	—

Format

Reclassification

• All rounds will be played in a single game hosted by the higher seed
• If a game ends in a draw, it will proceed directly to a penalty shoot-out.

Liguilla

• Teams will be re-seeded each round.
• The winners of the Reclassification matches will be seeded based on their ranking in the classification table.
• Team with more goals on aggregate after two matches will advance.
• No away goals rule is applied in neither round, if the two teams are tied on aggregate, the higher seeded team advances.
• In the final, if the two teams are tied after both legs, the match goes to extra time and, if necessary, a shoot-out.
• Both finalists will qualify to the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League.

^[1]

Reclassification

Summary

Matches took place on 20–21 November 2021.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Santos Laguna	2–0	Atlético San Luis
Toluca	1–2	UNAM
Puebla	2–2 (6–5 p)	Guadalajara
Cruz Azul	1–4	Monterrey

Matches

20 November 2021

19:00 CST (UTC−6)

Santos Laguna	2–0	Atlético San Luis
Preciado 62' Jeraldino 86' (pen.)	Report

Estadio Corona, Torreón

Attendance: 10,048

Referee: César Arturo Ramos (Sinaloa)

---

20 November 2021

21:00 CST (UTC−6)

Puebla	2–2	Guadalajara
Tabó 20' (pen.) Lucas Maia 89'	Report	Brizuela 6' Mayorga 62'
Penalties
De Buen Álvarez Tabó Villalpando Escoto Salas Reyes Lucas Maia	6–5	Antuna Cisneros Olivas Torres Calderón Huerta Briseño Mayorga

Estadio Cuauhtémoc, Puebla

Attendance: 34,530

Referee: Marco Antonio Ortiz (Durango)

---

21 November 2021

17:00 CST (UTC−6)

Toluca	1–2	UNAM
Ortega 62' (pen.)	Report	López 16' Dinenno 50'

Estadio Nemesio Díez, Toluca

Attendance: 22,595

Referee: Fernando Hernández Gómez (Mexico City)

---

21 November 2021

19:15 CST (UTC−6)

Cruz Azul	1–4	Monterrey
Yotún 32' (pen.)	Report	Funes Mori 10' (pen.), 59' Meza 27' Janssen 85'

Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

Attendance: 0^{[note 1]}

Referee: Fernando Guerrero (Mexico City)

Seeding

The following is the final seeding for the final phase. The winners of the Reclassification matches are seeded based on their position in the classification table.

Seed	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	América	17	10	5	2	21	10	+11	35
2	Atlas	17	8	5	4	21	10	+11	29
3	León	17	8	5	4	20	14	+6	29
4	UANL	17	7	7	3	26	14	+12	28
5	Santos Laguna	17	5	9	3	23	16	+7	24
6	Puebla	17	6	6	5	16	16	0	24
7	Monterrey	17	5	7	5	19	16	+3	22
8	UNAM	17	5	6	6	17	23	−6	21

Source: Liga MX
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Goals scored; 4) Away goals scored; 5) Drawing of lots.

Bracket

	Quarter-finals							Semi-finals							Finals
	2	Atlas (s)	0	1	1
	7	Monterrey	0	1	1
								2	Atlas (s)	1	0	1
								8	UNAM	0	1	1
	1	América	0	1	1
	8	UNAM	0	3	3
															2	Atlas (p)	2	1	3 (4)
															3	León	3	0	3 (3)
	3	León	1	2	3
	6	Puebla	2	0	2
								3	León (s)	1	2	3
								4	UANL	2	1	3
	4	UANL (s)	1	1	2
	5	Santos Laguna	2	0	2

Quarter-finals

The first legs were played on 24–25 November, and the second legs were played on 27–28 November.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
UNAM	3–1	América	0–0	3–1
Monterrey	1–1 (s)	Atlas	0–0	1–1
Puebla	2–3	León	2–1	0–2
Santos Laguna	2–2 (s)	UANL	2–1	0–1

First leg

24 November 2021

19:00 CST (UTC−6)

UNAM	0–0	América
	Report

Estadio Olímpico Universitario, Mexico City

Attendance: 42,784

Referee: Jorge Antonio Pérez (Veracruz)

---

24 November 2021

21:05 CST (UTC−6)

Monterrey	0–0	Atlas
	Report

Estadio BBVA, Guadalupe

Attendance: 27,105

Referee: Jorge Isaac Rojas (Mexico City)

---

25 November 2021

19:00 CST (UTC−6)

Puebla	2–1	León
Parra 30' Araujo 79'	Report	Barreiro 28'

Estadio Cuauhtémoc, Puebla

Attendance: 27,259

Referee: Erick Yair Miranda (Guanajuato)

---

25 November 2021

21:05 CST (UTC−6)

Santos Laguna	2–1	UANL
Valdés 4' Aguirre 12'	Report	Gignac 74'

Estadio Corona, Torreón

Attendance: 15,310

Referee: Oscar Macías Romo (Aguascalientes)

Second leg

27 November 2021

19:00 CST (UTC−6)

América	1–3	UNAM
Aguilera 11' (pen.)	Report	Corozo 29', 42' Higor 82'

Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

Attendance: 51,302

Referee: Marco Antonio Ortiz (Durango)

UNAM won 3–1 on aggregate.

---

27 November 2021

21:05 CST (UTC−6)

Atlas	1–1	Monterrey
Furch 18' (pen.)	Report	González 73'

Estadio Jalisco, Guadalajara

Attendance: 21,210

Referee: César Arturo Ramos (Sinaloa)

1–1 on aggregate. Atlas advanced due to being the higher seed in the classification table.

---

28 November 2021

18:00 CST (UTC−6)

UANL	1–0	Santos Laguna
Salcedo 82'	Report

Estadio Universitario, San Nicolás de los Garza

Attendance: 37,438

Referee: Luis Enrique Santander (Guanajuato)

2–2 on aggregate. UANL advanced due to being the higher seed in the classification table.

---

28 November 2021

20:05 CST (UTC−6)

León	2–0	Puebla
Mena 25', 80' (pen.)	Report

Estadio León, León

Attendance: 13,307

Referee: Jorge Antonio Pérez (Veracruz)

León won 3–2 on aggregate.

Semi-finals

The first legs were played on 1–2 December, and the second legs were played on 4–5 December.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
UNAM	1–1 (s)	Atlas	0–1	1–0
UANL	3–3 (s)	León	2–1	1–2

First leg

1 December 2021

21:00 CST (UTC−6)

UANL	2–1	León
Thauvin 90' González 90+5'	Report	Meneses 57'

Estadio Universitario, San Nicolás de los Garza

Attendance: 37,785

Referee: Marco Antonio Ortiz (Durango)

---

2 December 2021

21:00 CST (UTC−6)

UNAM	0–1	Atlas
	Report	Furch 43'

Estadio Olímpico Universitario, Mexico City

Attendance: 48,976

Referee: Jorge Isaac Rojas (Mexico City)

Second leg

4 December 2021

21:00 CST (UTC−6)

León	2–1	UANL
Mena 8', 85'	Report	Reyes 16'

Estadio León, León

Attendance: 23,570

Referee: César Arturo Ramos (Sinaloa)

3–3 on aggregate. León advanced due to being the higher seed in the classification table.

---

5 December 2021

19:00 CST (UTC−6)

Atlas	0–1	UNAM
	Report	Dinenno 76'

Estadio Jalisco, Guadalajara

Attendance: 42,962

Referee: Jorge Antonio Pérez (Veracruz)

1–1 on aggregate. Atlas advanced due to being the higher seed in the classification table.

Finals

The first leg was played on 9 December, and the second leg was played on 12 December.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
León	3–3 (3–4 p)	Atlas	3–2	0–1 (a.e.t.)

First leg

9 December 2021

21:00 CST (UTC−6)

León	3–2	Atlas
Dávila 32' Mena 78', 86' (pen.)	Report	Reyes 11' Furch 65'

Estadio León, León

Attendance: 23,513

Referee: Luis Enrique Santander (Guanajuato)

Details

León[16][17]

Atlas[16][17]

GK 30 Rodolfo Cota (c) DF 4 Andrés Mosquera  35' DF 21 Jaine Barreiro DF 6 William Tesillo DF 28 David Ramírez MF 22 Santiago Colombatto  69' MF 8 José Iván Rodríguez MF 25 Omar Fernández  69' MF 13 Ángel Mena  87' MF 16 Jean Meneses  90' FW 7 Víctor Dávila  81'  90' Substitutions: GK 1 Alfonso Blanco DF 3 Gil Burón DF 5 Fernando Navarro DF 23 Ramiro González  35' MF 10 Luis Montes  69' MF 11 Elías Hernández  90' MF 26 Fidel Ambríz  90' MF 32 Jesse Zamudio FW 14 Santiago Ormeño FW 20 Emmanuel Gigliotti  69' Manager: Ariel Holan

GK 12 Camilo Vargas DF 5 Anderson Santamaría DF 2 Hugo Nervo DF 27 Jesús Angulo DF 15 Diego Barbosa  4'  79' DF 14 Luis Reyes  75' MF 20 Jairo Torres MF 26 Aldo Rocha (c)  68' MF 18 Jeremy Márquez  75' FW 9 Julio Furch FW 33 Julián Quiñones  87' Substitutions: GK 1 José Hernández DF 4 José Abella  81'  79' DF 13 Gaddi Aguirre DF 21 Aníbal Chalá  75' MF 6 Édgar Zaldívar  75' MF 10 Gonzalo Maroni MF 19 Edyairth Ortega FW 22 Franco Troyansky FW 28 Christopher Trejo FW 199 Jonathan Herrera Manager: Diego Cocca

Assistant referees:[18] José Ibrahim Martínez (Guerrero) Jorge Antonio Sánchez (Estado de México) Fourth official:[18] Óscar Mejía García (Mexico City) Video assistant referee:[18] Gerardo Martínez Bravo (Guanajuato) Assistant video assistant referee:[18] Guillermo Pacheco Larios (Sonora)

Statistics

Statistic[19]	León	Atlas
Goals scored	3	2
Total shots	12	8
Shots on target	5	3
Saves	1	2
Ball possession	69%	31%
Corner kicks	2	3
Fouls committed	18	16
Offsides	1	3
Yellow cards	1	4
Red cards	0	0

Second leg

12 December 2021

20:15 CST (UTC−6)

Atlas	1–0 (a.e.t.)	León
Rocha 55'	Report
Penalties
Angulo Rocha Zaldívar Trejo Furch	4–3	E. Hernández Navarro Mena Tesillo Montes

Estadio Jalisco, Guadalajara

Attendance: 47,548

Referee: Marco Antonio Ortiz (Durango)

3–3 on aggregate. Atlas won on 4–3 penalty kicks

Details

Atlas[20][21]

León[20][21]

GK 12 Camilo Vargas DF 5 Anderson Santamaría  90+3' DF 2 Hugo Nervo DF 27 Jesús Angulo DF 15 Diego Barbosa DF 14 Luis Reyes  99'  111' MF 20 Jairo Torres  111' MF 26 Aldo Rocha (c)  99' MF 18 Jeremy Márquez  80' FW 9 Julio Furch FW 33 Julián Quiñones  72' Substitutions: GK 1 José Hernández DF 4 José Abella DF 13 Gaddi Aguirre  111' DF 21 Aníbal Chalá  90+3' MF 6 Édgar Zaldívar  80' MF 11 Brayan Garnica  111' MF 19 Edyairth Ortega FW 22 Franco Troyansky FW 28 Christopher Trejo  72' FW 199 Jonathan Herrera Manager: Diego Cocca

GK 30 Rodolfo Cota (c) DF 23 Ramiro González  76' DF 21 Jaine Barreiro DF 6 William Tesillo DF 28 David Ramírez MF 22 Santiago Colombatto  64' MF 8 José Iván Rodríguez  105' MF 25 Omar Fernández  64' MF 13 Ángel Mena MF 16 Jean Meneses  90+1'  86' FW 7 Víctor Dávila  105' Substitutions: GK 1 Alfonso Blanco DF 3 Gil Burón DF 5 Fernando Navarro  105' DF 24 Osvaldo Rodríguez  76' DF 33 Pedro Hernández MF 10 Luis Montes  64' MF 11 Elías Hernández  85' MF 26 Fidel Ambríz FW 14 Santiago Ormeño  105' FW 20 Emmanuel Gigliotti  85'  90+4'  64' Manager: Ariel Holan

Assistant referees:[22] Christian Espinosa Zavala (Mexico City) Michel Alejandro Morales (Mexico City) Fourth official:[22] Jorge Antonio Pérez (Veracruz) Video assistant referee:[22] Erick Yair Miranda (Guanajuato) Assistant video assistant referee:[22] Eduardo Galvan Basulto (Mexico City)

Statistics

Statistic[23]	Atlas	León
Goals scored	1	0
Total shots	20	11
Shots on target	9	2
Saves	2	8
Ball possession	52%	48%
Corner kicks	5	6
Fouls committed	24	18
Offsides	0	1
Yellow cards	2	2
Red cards	0	2

Statistics

Goalscorers

There were 43 goals scored in 18 matches, for an average of 2.39 goals per match.

6 goals

• Ángel Mena (León)

3 goals

• Julio Furch (Atlas)

2 goals

• Washington Corozo (UNAM)
• Juan Ignacio Dinenno (UNAM)
• Rogelio Funes Mori (Monterrey)

1 goal

• Emanuel Aguilera (América)
• Eduardo Aguirre (Santos Laguna)
• Maximiliano Araújo (Puebla)
• Jaine Barreiro (León)
• Isaác Brizuela (Guadalajara)
• Víctor Dávila (León)
• André-Pierre Gignac (UANL)
• Alfonso González (Monterrey)
• Carlos González (UANL)
• Vincent Janssen (Monterrey)
• Ignacio Jeraldino (Santos Laguna)
• Leonel López (UNAM)
• Lucas Maia (Puebla)
• Alejandro Mayorga (Guadalajara)
• Jean Meneses (León)
• Higor Meritão (UNAM)
• Maximiliano Meza (Monterrey)
• Haret Ortega (Toluca)
• Pablo Parra (Puebla)
• Ayrton Preciado (Santos Laguna)
• Diego Reyes (UANL)
• Luis Reyes (Atlas)
• Aldo Rocha (Atlas)
• Carlos Salcedo (UANL)
• Christian Tabó (Puebla)
• Florian Thauvin (UANL)
• Diego Valdés (Santos Laguna)
• Yoshimar Yotún (Cruz Azul)

Assists

3 assists

• Alan Mozo (UNAM)

2 assists

• Gustavo Ferrareis (Puebla)
• André-Pierre Gignac (UANL)
• Carlos González (UANL)
• Jean Meneses (León)

1 assist

• Eduardo Aguirre (Santos Laguna)
• Érick Aguirre (Monterrey)
• Maximiliano Araújo (Puebla)
• Isaác Brizuela (Guadalajara)
• Omar Campos (Santos Laguna)
• Santiago Colombatto (León)
• Víctor Dávila (León)
• Nicolás Freire (UNAM)
• Alfonso González (Monterrey)
• Jeremy Márquez (Atlas)
• Ángel Mena (León)
• Maximiliano Meza (Monterrey)
• Julián Quiñones (Atlas)
• Diego Valdés (Santos Laguna)

Notes

1. One match attendance ban due to prohibited chants in the regular season match Cruz Azul vs. León.^[15]