Match preview: Santos Laguna vs. Monterrey

Game: Club Santos Laguna S.A. de C.V. vs. Club de Fútbol Monterrey

Date: Sunday, September 26th

Time: 8:06 p.m. Eastern, 7:06 p.m. Central, 5:06 p.m. Pacific, 12:06 a.m. UTC

Venue: Estadio Corona TSM (Torreón, Coah.)

Referees: REF: Marco Antonio Ortiz Nava, AR1: Alberto Morín Méndez, AR2: Jose De Jesus Baños Caballero, 4TH: Daniel Quintero Huitrón, VAR: Cirilo Arturo Cruz Hurtado, AVAR: Jonhatan Benjamín Hernández Juárez

Television: United States - FOX Deportes Network; Mexico - TUDN

Streaming: fuboTV (Subscription), TUDN En Vivo (Mexico), FOX Sports GO (United States), Vidgo (Subscription)

All-time record: Monterrey holds the all time edge, winning 32 to Santos’ 27 while the teams have drawn 28 times. In Liga MX play, Monterrey holds the 27 to 24 advantage with 26 draws. In the playoffs, Monterrey won their fourth championship 5-3 on aggregate in the 2010 Apertura. Santos won their fourth championship 3-2 on aggregate in the 2012 Clausura. They also met in the quarterfinal round of the 2018 Apertura with Monterrey winning that 3-0 on aggregate, again in the 2019 Apertura quarterfinal round where Rayados advanced 6-3 on aggregate en route to their fifth championship, and in last season’s quarterfinal round where Santos advanced 3-2 on aggregate thanks to a late goal by Roni Prieto in the vuelta leg.

The clubs have also met in the Copa MX, with Santos winning twice to Monterrey’s once as well as in Concacaf Champions League twice with Monterrey winning both the 2011-12 Final 3-2 on aggregate and the 2012-13 Final on 4-2 aggregate. The last time the clubs met during the regular season, Santos won 1-0 in Torreón back on February 14th on the back of a standout performance from Matheus Dória during a sandstorm.

Photo by Jos Alvarez/Jam Media/Getty Images

Santos will play the second of three consecutive home matches when they host regional rivals Rayados de Monterrey tonight at TSM. They come in having lost just one Liga MX match all season, a 2-1 loss to Tijuana in a midweek match in Week 8. They rebounded last week to pick up a 1-1 draw at home against Puebla, getting a late goal from Alessio Da Cruz to keep their good run of form going.

Santos largely has a clean bill of health, however goalkeeper Carlos Acevedo has missed three games with an injury to his right shoulder, however he should be available for selection within the next couple of weeks. The only other player who is out is Carlos Orrantia, who was diagnosed with a grade 1 hamstring injury, which means he will likely miss around three weeks. The good news is Gibran Lajud has played well in Acevedo’s absence, and Jonathan Díaz had a decent game at right back against Puebla.

Photo by Azael Rodriguez/Getty Images

Rayados have been good this season, casting aside the malaise of recent seasons and amassing a 4W 5D 1L record in Liga MX and making it to the Concacaf Champions League Finals against Club América. Rogelio Funes Mori leads all Rayados scorers with four goals, but they’ve also gotten four from Duván Vergara, who has been a super sub since arriving from América de Cali at the start of this season.

Rayados are always a challenging team, and one that seems to be brimming with confidence. They beat archrivals Tigres 2-0 two weeks ago and followed that up with a 2-0 win against Toluca. Those wins however came at home, and they’ve struggled on the road this season. They lost to Atlas and drew Tijuana, Cruz Azul, and Mazatlán on the road this season. And with Estadio TSM being a fortress for Santos, it will not be an easy task for the visitors. Both teams will need to be at the top of their game to get a positive result from what should be an entertaining match.