Chivas ties Atletico Madrid but lose on penalties in their final game of the ICC

Chivas got a draw in their final game of the ICC (International Champions Cup) against Atletico Madrid but eventually lost on a penalty kick shootout. After embarrassing performances all through the preseason and in their first league game, Chivas was able to get a draw, although they were saved various times by Raul Gudiño and benefited from a red card against Atletico. Chivas had a chance to win in the shootout but Fernando Beltran missed his penalty kick , giving Atletico the lifeline that they took advantage of.

During the 90 minutes, Atletico started the most dangerous of the both teams and dominated the game. Chivas goalkeeper Raul Gudiño was the star of the show, making a couple of wonderful saves off Thomas Lemar, Alvaro Morata and Saul. The game-changing play happened when Alexis Vega went through Atletico’s defense before being brought down by last man Marcos Llorente. The red card gave Chivas a man advantage and pushed the ball dominance into their favor.

Still, Chivas never really threatened and the game went back to Atletico’s dominance when Carlos Villanueva got his second yellow card in the second half to turn the game into a 10 vs 10. The highlight of the second half for Mexican fans was that Hector Herrera came in for Atletico.

The penalty shootout started with both team converting their penalty kicks. Hector Herrea then converted his but Antonio Briseño missed his, although the ref then ordered for it to be taken again when he judged Antonio Adan to not have been on the line and Briseño then converted.

Next, Raul Gudiño came big again when he stopped Ivan Saponjic’s penalty. Chivas converted the next two and so did Atletico, which meant that if Fernando Beltran converted his, Chivas would have won. Beltran’s kick was stopped, and thus it would be now a sudden death. Moments later, Atletico converted but Alan Cervantes missed his, and Atletico won the game.

The game was a big improvement for a Chivas team that had been awful all preseason. Although it is worth mention they did benefit greatly from a mistake by Llorente. They will need to improve a lot now for their match against Tigres.

Atletico, meanwhile, is just starting their preseason, and despite the fact that not getting a result against Chivas team could be seen as a big step backward, the result is not as important as avoiding injuries and getting more into playing rhythm.

Chivas will now get back to Mexico to face a tough game against Tigres, while Atletico will continue in the ICC, facing their big rivals Real Madrid in East Rutherford, New Jersey.