UNAM Pumas will seek to confirm their candidacy for the title and in the process get a sweet revenge against Rayados de Monterrey, after the Monterrey team was the killer of university students by leaving them in the Clausura 2023 Repechage.
In addition to this, the duel corresponding to Matchday 13 of the Apertura 2023 has overtones of nostalgia for Antonio Mohamed, who will face the team of his lovers.
Pumas went to the stroke
Those led by Turkish Mohamed showed their critics and detractors that they are positioned as one of the strongest teams heading into the Play-In and the Liguilla. They are currently in third position in the overall table, with 21 units, just behind Águilas del América and Tigres de la UANL, current Liga MX champions. Also, they are the third best offense in the tournament with 22 points, which is surpassed by 26 of the Azulcremas and 23 of the Cats.
As if that wasn’t enough, the Pumas managed to consolidate real strength at the Estadio Olimpico Universitario, where they currently remain unbeaten in the tournament. The Pedregal team has six wins, three draws and three losses, where the victories are against Tigres (2-1), Atlético de San Luis (3-2), Querétaro (4-0) and Cruz Azul (4 -1) except.). Likewise, although they lost by a narrow margin against América, the Auriazules came up against the team that arguably played the best soccer in the competition.
Finally, the Pumas will take revenge for the date 17 of the Clausura 2023, where the cats need to add only one point to qualify for the Repechage, however, they were passed by Monterrey (4-1) to lose their hopes . However, in the words of Antonio Mohamed himself, the scenario could be completely different, because they have been working with the team for just four months. However, the Argentine strategist must show that he will not send even to the team where “he is the happiest in soccer in Mexico.”
Monterrey wants the Liguilla
For their part, Rayados de Monterrey are still looking to recover their best version, after the painful defeat against Tigres de la UANL (3-0) in Clásico Regio. However, since then La Pandilla managed a point against Puebla (1-1) and a valuable win against Bravos de Juárez (3-1). However, the team had to deal with the absences due to injury of Tecatito Corona, Joao Rojas, Sergio Canales, Stefan Medina, Edson Gutiérrez and Germán Berterame.
Despite all the loss of players of great quality, those led by Fernando Ortiz still have one of the most expensive and talented soccer teams in Mexico, which helped them position themselves in eighth place in Apertura 2023, with 17 points. Monterrey has accumulated five wins, two draws and three losses, considering that it still has to play its matchday 5 matches against Diablos Rojos del Toluca and Matchday 10 matches against Santos Laguna.
Although he cannot rely on some of his main offensive weapons, Tano Ortiz should take advantage of the imbalance of Jordi Cortizo, who returned after serving his suspension due to the accumulation of yellow cards, as well as the good shape in Maxi. Meza and of course, the scoring instinct of the top scorer in its history, Rogelio Funes Mori, to get the three points. With a win Pandilla can enter the direct qualification positions for the Liguilla.
