Match preview: Atlas vs. Santos Laguna

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

Date: Sunday, February 6th

Time: 7:00 p.m. Eastern, 6:00 p.m. Central, 4:00 p.m. Pacific, 12:00 a.m. UTC

Venue: Estadio Jalisco (Guadalajara, Jal.)

Referees: REF: Jorge Antonio Pérez Durán, AR1: Jonathan Maximiliano Gómez, AR2: Edgar Magdaleno Castrejon, 4TH: Edgar Ulises Rangel Araujo, VAR: Fernando Guerrero Ramírez, AVAR: Marcos Quintero Huitron

Television: United States - TUDN; Mexico - Blim, Afizzionados; Canada - Univision Canada

Streaming: fuboTV (Subscription), TUDN En Vivo

All-time record: Santos holds the all-time record across all competitions, winning 33 to Atlas’ 16 while the clubs have drawn 28 times. The clubs drew both their meeting in the 2003-04 Interliga and in the 2009-10 SuperLiga, with all other results being in Liga MX play. The last time the clubs met, the match ended in a 1-1 draw on goals from Félix Torres adn Julián Quiñones. Their last meeting at Estadio Jalisco wound up a 1-1 draw on February 6, 2021 in Guadalajara thanks to Omar Campos and Jonathan Herrera scoring their first professional goals for Santos and Atlas respectively.

Photo by CLAUDIO CRUZ/AFP via Getty Images

Since the last time these two teams met, their fortunes have shifted drastically. Atlas won the league for the first time in 70 years, exorcising demons and proving they were building competence. Santos meanwhile lost in the semifinals to Tigres, parted ways with Guillermo Almada, brought back Pedro Caixinha, and parted ways with key players like Diego Valdés, Juan Ferney Otero, and Andrés Ibargüen.

In their last match out, Atlas beat América in the Azteca, going into the international break with seven points out of nine possible and in third place on the table by virtue of goal differential.

Photo by Armando Marin/Jam Media/Getty Images

In their last outing, Santos suffered one of their worst losses ever at TSM, going down a player early and being beaten by Necaxa 4-1. They’ll be without Jordan Carrillo, who was red carded in the Necaxa match, as well as Ayrton Preciado, who suffered an injury with Ecuador in their match against Perú. Originally thought to be a fractured tibia, Preciado himself has said that it was instead a fissure which won’t keep him out quite as long.

Santos also announced the signing of Harold Preciado from Deportivo Cali. Preciado has made two appearances for the Colombian National Team, and should be a welcome addition at forward.

It should be a good game, although Santos needs to move past the Necaxa game and put forth a good result. Atlas is hot and playing well, however as Santos’ last outing proved, anything can happen.