Mexico City rivals prepare for feisty Liga MX final second leg | OneFootball

Cruz Azul and Club América will duke it out in the second leg of the Liga MX Apertura 2018 Liguilla finals on Sunday after a score-less first match.

During the first leg held on Thursday night, Club América lost two players to injury. First Colombian attacker Mateus Uribe was stretchered off with a serious-looking knee injury before forward Roger Martínez also left the match with apparent muscle discomfort.

Perhaps a bit of mind-games from the azulcrema manager Miguel Herrera or perhaps down to actually uncertainty of the injury, rumours have swirled since Thursday over whether or not the pair will be available to play.

In the post-match press conference Herrera confirmed that Martínez was dealing with a muscle injury in his thigh though he also indicated that further tests needed to be conducted.

Prior to the second leg, Herrera did not give fans much hope on the progress of either Colombian player and downplayed their chances to participate. If either player is not fit for the match, that will likely mean a larger role for Mexican veteran Oribe Peralta.

At the age of 34, Peralta is hoping to win his fifth league title and second with América. Though he looked off the pace after coming off the bench to replace Uribe on Thursday, his introduction made Peralta the player to contest the most finals in Liga MX history with nine.

Peralta’s former team-mate, ex-América centre back Pablo Aguilar now plays for Cruz Azul and dismissed talk of curses ahead of the second leg.

“That’s in the past,” Aguilar said of Cruz Azul’s dramatic loss in the 2013 Clausura final. “We are practically a brand new team, new players, and we all we know is that we have a final and that we must do our best to win the title that is our sole objective.”

Only three players from the 2013 loss to América remain with the cementeros: Jesús Corona, Julio César Domínguez, and Gerardo Flores.

“There are just three players left from that final. Now we have to go through this final. What happened in the past is behind us, we can only think about the present. We want to lift Cruz Azul to the highest level, we are a team with the imagination and desire to achieve important things.”