When was the last time Atlas won Liga MX?

The year: 1951. In New York the United Nations headquarters were officially inaugurated in Argentina, the first Pan American Games were inaugurated and a German company presented the first LP. It was in that year when Atlas won the Liga MX.

Since then his fans have dreamed of reaching glory again and many of them think that this year they will. But, how was the tournament when Atlas won for the last time?

How was the tournament the last time Atlas won Liga MX?

Back then, the tournament was hole different than now. For example, it was a long tournament and the best team of the league was whoever score the most points. At that time, Mexican soccer had only 12 teams.

How Atlas won the tournament?

In that year, on April 22, Atlas won the Liga MX facing its fierce rival in the state: the Chivas of Club Deportivo Guadalajara. 

In those days, Atlas was known as "Las Margaritas" (the daisies) because of their delicate way of playing the ball. And since this nickname was given to them by their fierce rivals, Chivas, the Rojinegros responded by giving their rivals the nickname of "las chivas brinconas" (the jumping goats).

Curiously, and as a result of this nickname, a team of Atlista cheerleaders called "Las Margaritas" later emerged.

As the winner of the tournament was decided by points, to win the tournament Atlas had to score 2 points and depended on Leon's team not winning against Veracruz. 

Before kickoff, the Chivas fans played a joke on the Atlas fans: they brought a goat with a bunch of daisies on the field to eat. 

The match started and Chivas attacked again and again with Tomás Balcázar, Chicharito's grandfather, but Atlas' goalkeeper Raúl Córdoba cut off the attacks and kept a clean sheet.

With the game so close, neither team was hurting each other, until a penalty kick awarded by judge Horacio Salceda, due to an alleged handball in the area committed by red and white defender Rafael Orozco, was taken by Costa Rican Edwin Cubero. 

The Costa Rican did not waste the opportunity and took the penalty, sending the ball into the back of the net and giving the Jalisco team its first tournament title.  

That was the only goal of the match, but it was enough for Atlas to have glory in their hands for the last time.

The lineup of Atlas' 1951 championship team

The lineup of that team with which Atlas won the Liga MX was: Raúl Córdoba; Juan "Chapetes" Gómez, Felipe Zetter, Luis Ornelas, Guillermo del Valle; Javier Novello, Guadalupe Velázquez, Juan José Novo, Adalberto "Dumbo" López; José Mercado y Edwin Cubero. The coach was Eduardo Valdatti.

Will Atlas win this year´s Liga MX? 

Now, under the guidance of coach Diego Cocca, Atlas seeks to repeat the feat that their ancestors achieved. In the words of the coach: "This match will be different from the first few games. Atlas and Pumas have been exciting, they have grown and are in a good moment, they are playing in a semifinal for a reason". 

Also, Cocca acknowledged Pumas' strengths and said: "It's clear that Pumas has an ideology with intense, fast players who look for the opponent's goal. They never give up and have shown that they can turn around a game with a two, three or four goal deficit”. 

Will this be the year that Atlas becomes champion again? It is not yet known, but with the first match of the semi-final won, the Rojinegros dare to dream.