Cruz Azul: He went from being criticized to become the hero of La Máquina

Cruz Azul became the first team that played Repechaje to earn a ticket to Liguilla after they beat Club Necaxa in a penalty shootout, given that the game ended in a 1-1 draw thanks to a late goal scored by Rodrigo Aguirre.

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La Máquina arrived at the game in Estadio Azteca with the longest span without having scored a goal in home turf since they returned to “El Coloso de Santa Úrsula”, same that prolonged almost 300 minutes until Juan Escobar opened the score after 58 minutes.

But La Máquina also needed to prove that in the knockout stage they are a different team, as before Repechaje they had won just one game of the last 10 that they played, including Clausura 2022 and CONCACAF Champions League.

For the first time in several weeks, Juan Reynoso decided to keep an offensive stand even after they scored, as he knew it was the only way they were going to transcend, and even if for a minute the ghosts of their failures returned to Estadio Azteca, they were able to overcome the adversities thanks to an unexpected hero.

Cruz Azul followers disliked him at first but now thank him for the ticket to Liguilla

La Máquina was over Club Necaxa until they opened the score, after that, Los Rayos knew that if they wanted to make it to the next stage that they needed to be more aggressive, something that in the end made them tie the game and send it to the penalty shootout.

Sebastián Jurado knew that that was the perfect moment for him to prove why he was considered by Cruz Azul to be the successor of José de Jesús Corona once he decides to leave when his contract expires or if he retires.

Jurado became the hero of La Máquina as he stopped two of the four penalty kicks of Necaxa, starting with the first kick of the penalty shootout and then the last one that Necaxa kicked, but his performance during the game also helped him to become the most outstanding player of the game.

Will he remain as the starter?

Since “Chuy” Corona got injured, Juan Reynoso trusted that Sebastián Jurado would be up to the challenge of replacing the former Mexico international, and although at first he had several mistakes that costed La Máquina some points, in recent games he’s become a reliable goalkeeper, so much that he left Corona on the bench for this game even if he was ready to return.

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