Liga MX round-up: Cruz Azul and Monterrey maintain perfect starts | OneFootball

Diego Lainez highlights Saturday night’s fixtures on Liga MX’s match-day 3 with a double on the road.

Elsewhere, Necaxa scored a stoppage-time winner and Monterrey came from behind while Cruz Azul defended their slender lead well.

Here’s a rundown of each match:

Monterrey 2-1 Querétaro

The Gallos Blancos took the lead in the first half but Monterrey battled back to win in the 90th minute.

Nicolás Sánchez was deemed to have fouled Édson Puch in the area and the referee pointed to the spot. Puch stepped up and easily dispatched his penalty past Marcelo Barovero in the 23rd minute.

Perhaps energized by conceding, Monterrey, and especially Sánchez, jumped into gear. Jonathan Urretaviscaya hit a free kick from distance into the Querétaro penalty area and Sánchez rose up to re-direct the ball from the edge of the box. His header sailed just of Tiago Volpi’s reach and into the back of the net to erase his earlier mistake.

After equalizing just six minutes after going down, Monterrey appeared to have the momentum but could not find the go-ahead goal until the dying minutes of the match.

On a counter attack in the 90th minute, Dorlan Pabón played a ball on the ground to the back post where his Colombian compatriot Avilés Hurtado finished unmarked.

Hurtado and Sánchez each scored their second goal of the 2018 Apertura in the third game of the campaign. The Rayados are one of just three teams alongside Pumas UNAM and Cruz Azul to have won all three of the games so far this season.

Cruz Azul 1-0 Tigres UANL

The cementeros handed Tigres their first loss of the young campaign and won their second home match at the Azteca Stadium on Saturday night.

Perhaps the main attraction for this match, Tigres forward André-Pierre Gignac stayed at home due to illness. Despite some high expectations for this game, the contest only had one goal which developed from a defensive mistake.

Jorge Torres Nilo played an errant pass towards a team-mate that Elías Hernández was able to intercept. Hernández drove forward before playing Roberto Alvarado into space and the 19-year old finished past Nahuel Guzmán.

Tigres manager Ricardo Ferretti attempted to inject life into his team’s attack by introducing forwards Eduardo Vargas, Julián Quiñones, and Ismael Sosa. While the visitors held 71% of possession, even with those offensive substitutions, Tigres were unable to register a single shot on target.

Here’s to hoping Gignac doesn’t get another cold until after the 2018 Apertura ends.

Pachuca 1-3 Club América

In the starting line-up for the first time since April, Diego Lainez repaid the opportunity with a brace on the road at the Hidalgo Stadium. Perhaps Diego also saw his older brother Mauro score for Lobos BUAP last week and rose to the challenge.

The younger Lainez opened the scoring for América in the 16th minute. The winger put left-back Emmanuel García on skates before cutting inside onto his left foot and curling an effort through traffic and past Alfonso Blanco.

Not content with scoring his first goal in Liga MX, the youngster scored again in the second half. After riding a heavy challenge from centre-back Jaine Barreiro, Oribe Peralta found Lainez free near the top of the Pachuca area.

The 18-year old attacker took two touches to control the ball before firing a left-footed shot through the hands of Blanco at the near post in the 62nd minute.

Veteran forward Peralta sealed the victory with América’s third goal in the 80th minute. In addition to underlining the superiority of the Águilas on the night, it marked Peralta’s first goal in five months and a day.

The Tuzos grabbed a consolation goal through Franco Jara’s penalty in the 90th minute. The goal was Pachuca’s first in the 2018 Apertura after 270 minutes.

Necaxa 1-0 Lobos BUAP

Despite being reduced to ten players in the first half, Necaxa defeated Lobos BUAP at home.

The team from Puebla could not press their numerical advantage after Felipe Gallegos was shown a straight red card in the 39th minute.

Dieter Villalpando scored without any support in stoppage time to turn one point into three for the Rayos.

Necaxa have two wins from three games so far in the 2018 Apertura, good enough for sixth place. Lobos BUAP on the other hand, only has one win in this campaign and sit down in tenth place.