Guardianes 2020 Liga MX championship stage

The Torneo Guardianes 2020 (stylized as Guard1anes) Liga MX final phase^[1] was played between 21 November 2020 to 13 December 2020.^[2] A total of 12 teams competed in the final phase to decide the champions of the Guardianes 2020 Liga MX season.^[3] For the first time since the Clausura 2008 season, an additional qualifying round, the reclassification or repechaje, was employed, expanding the number of playoff spots from eight to 12.

Guardianes 2020 Liga MX final phase

← Apertura 2019 Guardianes 2021 →

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Mexico, all matches of the final phase, except for the first leg of the quarter-final between Guadalajara and América, were played behind closed doors.^[4]

Both finalists qualified to the 2022 CONCACAF Champions League.

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	León	40	2 October 2020	12th	Apertura 2019	Champions (2 times)	[5]
2	UNAM	32 (+12)	17 October 2020	23rd	Apertura 2018	Champions (4 times)	[6]
3	América	32 (+9)	17 October 2020	34th	Apertura 2019	Champions (5 times)	[7]
4	Cruz Azul	29 (+7)	16 October 2020	29th	Clausura 2019	Champions (Invierno 1997)	[8]

Qualified to Reclassification round (8 teams)

Seed	Team	Points (GD)	Date of qualification	Appearance	Last appearance	Previous best	Ref.
5	Monterrey	29 (+5)	24 October 2020	24th	Apertura 2019	Champions (4 times)	[9]
6	UANL	28	17 October 2020	26th	Apertura 2019	Champions (5 times)	[10]
7	Guadalajara	26	25 October 2020	26th	Clausura 2017	Champions (3 times)	[11]
8	Santos Laguna	25 (+4, 24 GF)	25 October 2020	31st	Apertura 2019	Champions (6 times)	[12]
9	Pachuca	25 (+4, 18 GF)	25 October 2020	22nd	Clausura 2019	Champions (6 times)	[13]
10	Necaxa	24	30 October 2020	18th	Apertura 2019	Champions (Invierno 1998)	[14]
11	Toluca	21	6 November 2020	33rd	Apertura 2018	Champions (7 times)	[15]
12	Puebla	20	6 November 2020	8th	Apertura 2015	Semifinals (3 times)	[16]

Format

Reclassification

• All games were played in a single-leg hosted by the higher seed
• If a game ended in a draw, it proceeded directly to a penalty shoot-out.

Liguilla

• Teams were re-seeded each round.
• The winners of the Reclassification matches were seeded based on their ranking in the classification table.
• 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 2022 CONCACAF Champions League.

^[1]

Reclassification

Summary

Matches took place on 21–22 November 2020.

Team 1	Score	Team 2
Monterrey	2–2 (2–4 p)	Puebla
UANL	2–1	Toluca
Guadalajara	1–0	Necaxa
Santos Laguna	0–3	Pachuca

Matches

21 November 2020

19:00 CST (UTC−6)

Santos Laguna	0–3	Pachuca
	Report	Guzmán 36' Murillo 55' De la Rosa 85'

Estadio Corona, Torreón

Referee: Marco Antonio Ortiz (Durango)

---

21 November 2020

21:10 CST (UTC−6)

Guadalajara	1–0	Necaxa
Angulo 54'	Report

Estadio Akron, Zapopan

Referee: César Arturo Ramos (Sinaloa)

---

22 November 2020

19:00 CST (UTC−6)

UANL	2–1	Toluca
Gignac 35', 38'	Report	Ayala 52' (o.g.)

Estadio Universitario, San Nicolás de los Garzas

Attendance: Fernando Hernández (Mexico City)

---

22 November 2020

21:10 CST (UTC−6)

Monterrey	2–2	Puebla
Sánchez 44' (pen.) Janssen 50' (pen.)	Report	Martínez 61' Ormeño 90' (pen.)
Penalties
Pabón Sánchez Funes Mori Vegas	2–4	Salas Martínez Vikonis Ormeño Corral

Estadio BBVA, Guadalupe

Referee: Fernando Guerrero (Mexico City)

Seeding

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

Seed	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	León	17	12	4	1	27	14	+13	40
2	UNAM	17	8	8	1	29	17	+12	32
3	América	17	9	5	3	31	22	+9	32
4	Cruz Azul	17	9	2	6	23	16	+7	29
5	UANL	17	7	7	3	27	16	+11	28
6	Guadalajara	17	7	5	5	20	17	+3	26
7	Pachuca	17	6	7	4	18	14	+4	25
8	Puebla	17	6	2	9	22	25	−3	20

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
	1	León	1	2	3
	8	Puebla	2	0	2
								1	León	1	1	2
								6	Guadalajara	1	0	1
	3	América	0	1	1
	6	Guadalajara	1	2	3
															1	León	1	2	3
															2	UNAM	1	0	1
	2	UNAM	1	0	1
	7	Pachuca	0	0	0
								2	UNAM (s)	0	4	4
								4	Cruz Azul	4	0	4
	4	Cruz Azul	3	0	3
	5	UANL	1	1	2

Quarter-finals

Summary

The first legs were played on 25–26 November, and the second legs were played on 28–29 November.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Puebla	2–3	León	2–1	0–2
Pachuca	0–1	UNAM	0–1	0–0
Guadalajara	3–1	América	1–0	2–1
UANL	2–3	Cruz Azul	1–3	1–0

First leg

25 November 2020

19:00 CST (UTC−6)

Puebla	2–1	León
Fernández 1' Mosquera 37' (o.g.)	Report	Mena 43' (pen.)

Estadio Cuauhtémoc, Puebla

Referee: Erick Yair Miranda (Guanajuato)

---

25 November 2020

21:06 CST (UTC−6)

Guadalajara	1–0	América
Calderón 81'	Report

Estadio Akron, Zapopan

Attendance: 3,727

Referee: Jorge Isaac Rojas (Mexico City)

---

26 November 2020

19:00 CST (UTC−6)

UANL	1–3	Cruz Azul
Pizarro 46'	Report	Escobar 3' Rodríguez 54' Romo 71'

Estadio Universitario, San Nicolás de los Garzas

Referee: Diego Montaño Robles (Jalisco)

---

26 November 2020

21:06 CST (UTC−6)

Pachuca	0–1	UNAM
	Report	Álvarez 7'

Estadio Hidalgo, Pachuca

Referee: Eduardo Galván Basulto (Mexico City)

Second leg

28 November 2020

19:00 CST (UTC−6)

León	2–0	Puebla
Perg 5' (o.g.) Mena 30'	Report

Estadio León, León

Referee: César Arturo Ramos (Sinaloa)

León won 3–2 on aggregate.

---

28 November 2020

21:06 CST (UTC−6)

América	1–2	Guadalajara
Martín 75'	Report	Calderón 31', 72'

Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

Referee: Jorge Antonio Pérez (Veracruz)

Guadalajara won 3–1 on aggregate.

---

29 November 2020

12:00 CST (UTC−6)

UNAM	0–0	Pachuca
	Report

Estadio Olímpico Universitario, Mexico City

Referee: Fernando Hernández Gómez (Mexico City)

UNAM won 1–0 on aggregate.

---

29 November 2020

18:30 CST (UTC−6)

Cruz Azul	0–1	UANL
	Report	L. Quiñones 83'

Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

Referee: Marco Antonio Ortiz (Durango)

Cruz Azul won 3–2 on aggregate.

Semi-finals

Summary

The first legs were played on 2–3 December, and the second legs were played on 5–6 December.

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
Guadalajara	1–2	León	1–1	0–1
Cruz Azul	4–4 (s)	UNAM	4–0	0–4

First leg

2 December 2020

21:05 CST (UTC−6)

Guadalajara	1–1	León
Macías 52' (pen.)	Report	Navarro 38'

Estadio Akron, Zapopan

Referee: Marco Antonio Ortiz (Durango)

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3 December 2020

21:00 CST (UTC−6)

Cruz Azul	4–0	UNAM
Alvarado 2' Baca 8' Romo 13', 90+5'	Report

Estadio Azteca, Mexico City

Referee: Jorge Isaac Rojas (Mexico City)

Second leg

5 December 2020

21:00 CST (UTC−6)

León	1–0	Guadalajara
Campbell 18'	Report

Estadio León, León

Referee: Diego Montaño Robles (Jalisco)

León won 2–1 on aggregate.

---

6 December 2020

18:30 CST (UTC−6)

UNAM	4–0	Cruz Azul
Dinenno 4', 37' C. González 41' Vigón 89'	Report

Estadio Olímpico Universitario, Mexico City

Referee: César Arturo Ramos (Sinaloa)

4–4 on aggregate and tied on away goals. UNAM advanced due to being the higher seed in the classification table.

Finals

Team 1	Agg.Tooltip Aggregate score	Team 2	1st leg	2nd leg
UNAM	1–3	León	1–1	0–2

First leg

10 December 2020

21:00 CST (UTC−6)

UNAM	1–1	León
C. González 72'	Report	Gigliotti 89'

Estadio Olímpico Universitario, Mexico City

Referee: Fernando Hernández Gómez (Mexico City)

Details

UNAM[17][18]

León[17][18]

GK 20 Julio González DF 3 Alejandro Mayorga DF 23 Nicolás Freire DF 5 Johan Vásquez DF 2 Alan Mozo MF 11 Juan Iturbe  53' MF 17 Leonel López  78' MF 8 Andrés Iniestra (c)  90+4' MF 22 Juan Pablo Vigón FW 32 Carlos González  55'  86' FW 9 Juan Ignacio Dinenno Substitutions: GK 42 Alex Cruz DF 4 Luis Quintana DF 16 Jerónimo Rodríguez  86' DF 19 Jesús Rivas MF 7 Sebastian Saucedo MF 13 Gerardo Moreno MF 14 Carlos Gutiérrez  53' MF 200 Amaury García MF 212 Erik Lira  78' FW 29 Bryan Mendoza Manager: Andrés Lillini

GK 30 Rodolfo Cota DF 6 William Tesillo DF 4 Andrés Mosquera DF 21 Jaine Barreiro  65'  81' DF 5 Fernando Navarro  90+3' MF 8 José Iván Rodríguez  68' MF 18 Pedro Aquino MF 16 Jean Meneses  84' MF 10 Luis Montes (c) MF 13 Ángel Mena FW 12 Joel Campbell  46' Substitutions: GK 23 Alfonso Blanco DF 3 Gil Burón DF 24 Osvaldo Rodríguez DF 35 Juan Ignacio González  84' MF 28 David Ramírez  68' MF 32 Jesse Zamudio MF 14 Jesús Godínez  90+3' MF 15 Iván Ochoa FW 19 Nicolás Sosa FW 20 Emmanuel Gigliotti  46' Manager: Ignacio Ambríz

Assistant referees:[19] Christian Espinosa Zavala (Mexico City) Enríque Isaac Bustos (Guerrero) Fourth official:[19] Jorge Isaac Rojas (Mexico City) Video assistant referee:[19] Arturo Cruz Hurtado (Mexico City) Assistant video assistant referee:[19] Carlos Ayala Cuéllar (Mexico City)

Statistics

Statistic[20]	UNAM	León
Goals scored	1	1
Total shots	14	9
Shots on target	4	2
Saves	1	3
Ball possession	47%	53%
Corner kicks	3	2
Fouls committed	19	11
Offsides	1	3
Yellow cards	2	0
Red cards	0	1

Second leg

13 December 2020

20:30 CST (UTC−6)

León	2–0	UNAM
Gigliotti 12' Moreno 83'	Report

Estadio León, León

Referee: Jorge Antonio Pérez (Veracruz)

León won 3–1 on aggregate.

Details

León[21][22]

UNAM[21][22]

GK 30 Rodolfo Cota DF 6 William Tesillo DF 4 Andrés Mosquera  61' DF 35 Ignacio González (c) DF 5 Fernando Navarro  87' MF 16 Jean Meneses  80' MF 18 Pedro Aquino MF 28 David Ramírez MF 10 Luis Montes MF 13 Ángel Mena  15' FW 20 Emmanuel Gigliotti  87' Substitutions: GK 1 Guillermo Pozos DF 3 Gil Burón DF 24 Osvaldo Rodríguez MF 8 Iván Rodríguez MF 11 Yairo Moreno  80' MF 32 Jesse Zamudio FW 12 Joel Campbell  75'  15'  80' FW 14 Jesús Godínez  87' FW 15 Iván Ochoa  80' FW 19 Nicolás Sosa  87' Manager: Ignacio Ambríz

GK 1 Alfredo Talavera DF 3 Alejandro Mayorga DF 23 Nicolás Freire  45+4' DF 5 Johan Vásquez  59' DF 2 Alan Mozo  29' MF 17 Leonel López  70' MF 8 Andrés Iniestra (c) MF 22 Juan Pablo Vigón MF 14 Carlos Gutiérrez  39' FW 32 Carlos González FW 9 Juan Ignacio Dinenno Substitutions: GK 20 Julio González DF 4 Luis Quintana DF 16 Jerónimo Rodríguez MF 7 Sebastian Saucedo MF 10 Favio Álvarez  62'  59' MF 12 Facundo Waller MF 13 Gerardo Moreno MF 200 Amaury García FW 212 Erik Lira  70' FW 11 Juan Iturbe  39' Manager: Andrés Lillini

Assistant referees:[23] Michel Alejandro Morales (Mexico City) Karen Janet Díaz (Aguascalientes) Fourth official:[23] Diego Montaño Robles (Jalisco) Video assistant referee:[23] Erick Yair Miranda (Guanajuato) Assistant video assistant referee:[23] Fabrice Paul Plancon-Jallet

Statistics

Statistic[24]	León	UNAM
Goals scored	2	0
Total shots	9	9
Shots on target	4	4
Saves	4	2
Ball possession	41%	59%
Corner kicks	1	6
Fouls committed	14	18
Offsides	2	0
Yellow cards	2	3
Red cards	0	0

Statistics

Goalscorers

There were 41 goals scored in 18 matches, for an average of 2.28 goals per match.

3 goals

• Cristian Calderón (Guadalajara)
• Luis Romo (Cruz Azul)

2 goals

• Juan Ignacio Dinenno (UNAM)
• Emmanuel Gigliotti (León)
• André-Pierre Gignac (UANL)
• Carlos González (UNAM)
• Ángel Mena (León)

1 goal

• Roberto Alvarado (Cruz Azul)
• Favio Álvarez (UNAM)
• Jesús Angulo (Guadalajara)
• Rafael Baca (Cruz Azul)
• Joel Campbell (León)
• Roberto de la Rosa (Pachuca)
• Juan Escobar (Cruz Azul)
• Omar Fernández (Puebla)
• Víctor Guzmán (Pachuca)
• Vincent Janssen (Monterrey)
• José Juan Macías (Guadalajara)
• Henry Martín (América)
• Osvaldo Martínez (Puebla)
• Yairo Moreno (León)
• Óscar Murillo (Pachuca)
• Fernando Navarro (León)
• Santiago Ormeño (Puebla)
• Guido Pizarro (UANL)
• Luis Quiñones (UANL)
• Jonathan Rodríguez (Cruz Azul)
• Nicolás Sánchez (Monterrey)
• Juan Pablo Vigón (UNAM)

1 own goal

• Hugo Ayala (against Toluca)
• Andrés Mosquera (against Puebla)
• Maximiliano Perg (against León)

Assists

2 assists

• Roberto Alvarado (Cruz Azul)
• Javier Aquino (UANL)
• Orbelín Pineda (Cruz Azul)

1 assist

• Érick Aguirre (Pachuca)
• Uriel Antuna (Guadalajara)
• Joel Campbell (León)
• Víctor Dávila (Pachuca)
• Alonso Escoboza (América)
• Santiago Giménez (Cruz Azul)
• Pablo González (Puebla)
• Carlos Gutiérrez (UNAM)
• Luis Montes (León)
• Alan Mozo (UNAM)
• Fernando Navarro (León)
• Oribe Peralta (Guadalajara)
• David Ramírez (León)
• Luis Romo (Cruz Azul)
• Juan Pablo Vigón (UNAM)