Cruz Azul and Rayados split points in an exciting 2-2 game
Monterrey remained in third place of the 2019 Mexican Clausura despite their exciting 2-2 draw with Cruz Azul during the 12th round of the tournament. Avilés Hurtado and César Montes scored for Rayados, but Milton Caraglio and Igor Lichnovsky got Cruz Azul back into the game.
In the first half, César Montes and Rogelio Funes Morí tried to score the first goal of the game with two dangerous corner kicks. In the 21st minute, José Madueña saved his goal on the line after a César Montes header and six minutes later, a Funes Mori header attempt hit the post. La Máquina found the answer in the 33rdminute when Edgar Méndez received a ball from Roberto Alvarado from the right side, but Marcelo Barovero stopped Mendez’ close-range shot to keep things at zeros.
At the end of the first half, the Monterrey players found their reward and took the lead with a goal-of-the-season candidate after a spectacular scissor kick goal by Avilés Hurtado.
The second half started similarly as the first half ended as it was only the 49th minute when the local team increased their lead with a header by César Montes following a corner kick. The goal made it 2-0 and put Diego Alonso’s team at ease.Cruz Azul head coach, Pedro Caixinha, made a substitution trying to reinforce his offensive part. Rafael Baca left the field, and Martin Cauteruccio took his place in a critical movement for the reaction that was about to come.
Fifteen minutes before the end of the match, Cauteruccio sent the ball to Milton Caraglio and the Argentinian, with a header, scored to keep his five-game streak with a goal alive.
In the 81st minute, Rogelio Funes Morí had scored the third goal for Monterrey that could have meant the victory for his team, but the referee invalidated it because the Argentinian player was signaled offside.Rayados had taken the lead at the end of the first half, but Cruz Azul tied the match during the stoppage time. Off a corner kick, an Igor Lichnovsky’s header rescued the team that arrived in Monterrey as a victim, but its reaction was all that their fans have been waiting for ages.
