Fresh off cementing their reputation as the third-best team in the world, Rayados have captured the 2019 Liga MX Apertura title after a brilliant performance inside the house of the beast.
Guadalajara vs. Club América, Chivas vs. Las Águilas, El Súper Clásico — because that tame El Clásico over in Spain isn’t super enough.
Two of Mexico’s biggest clubs are also two of Liga MX’s biggest rivals, not just because they’re constantly going head-to-head on the pitch but because they have two distinct styles of going about their business. One’s called the Millionaires, the other the Goat Gang.
Tuesday night, Club América announced the signing of 34-year-old Mexican international Guillermo “Memo” Ochoa from Belgium’s Standard Liège for a reported fee of $1.14 million. The move marks a return to where it all began for Ochoa: the goalkeeper made over 200 appearances for América between 2004 and 2011 before embarking on an eight-year European odyssey.
After selling 19-year-old field general Matthijs de Ligt to Juventus for nearly $85 million, Ajax immediately found a promising replacement in 21-year-old Mexican defender Edson Álvarez. The Dutch club paid América $17 million for his services, and it’s easy to imagine the versatile player excelling in the Eredivisie, much like Héctor Moreno dominated at PSV.
The new season of Liga MX kicked off yesterday with the annual curtain raiser, the Campeón de Campeones. The one-off match pits the previous season’s Apertura and Clausura winners against each other, so last night in Carson, California we had Club América taking on Tigres at Dignity Health Sports Park (home of the LA Galaxy).
The match finished 0-0 after 90 minutes and went straight to a penalty shootout. In goal for América was Agustín Marchesín, and the 31-year-old Argentine absolutely dominated proceedings.
Alejandro Sebastián Romero Gamarra, better known as Kaku (but not that Kaku), is a New York Red Bulls designated player. He arrived in the Big Apple from Huracán with much fanfare in February 2018, but didn’t quite live up to lofty expectations in his first season.
Now he wants a move to Club América. But the Red Bulls are going all Daniel Levy on the Liga MX side and Kaku’s agent, Gustavo Casasola, is not happy.
18-year-old Mexican phenom Diego Lainez made his debut with Real Betis on Sunday following his transfer from Club América. Lainez entered the fray in the 81st minute with Betis and Girona knotted at 2-2 at the Estadio Benito Villamarín in LaLiga play.
Lainez’s introduction made him the third-youngest Mexican debutant in Europe, and his positive play on both wings during the brief cameo certainly isn’t going to slow the hype surrounding him.
The Diego Lainez transfer is complete. And he’s headed to Spain.
The exciting 18-year-old winger made the move from Club América to Real Betis on Thursday. The LaLiga club will pay América a reported $16 million for Lainez’s services.
It’s no secret that 18-year-old Mexican phenom Diego Lainez has played his last match for Club América (going out with a bang as the Apertura 2018 champion). With two El Tri appearances to his name, Lainez only further boosted his market value with two goals during América’s semifinal victory over Pumas, and it looks as though Dutch giants Ajax are about to meet the Mexican club’s valuation of the precocious winger.
It is settled: Club América is the best team in all Liga MX history. Beating Cruz Azul in a very level final on Sunday, Las Águilas claimed their 13th Liga MX title.
In doing so, Miguel Herrera's side surpassed Chivas Guadalajara, which has won the championship 12 times.