Match recap: Club Atlético de San Luis 1, Santos Laguna 3

While Santos entered the week alive in the playoff hunt, that brief lifeline wouldn’t last until kickoff, with Pumas’ win effectively ending Santos’ dreams of making the postseason. Still Santos went out with a performance to be proud of, casting aside a poor first half to get three goals in the second to win 3-1 on the road in San Luis Potosí.

Santos was the club that started with the better possession, but San Luis got the first chance on goal when Germán Berterame his a shot from distance in the sixth minute, sending it wide of the net. Berterame had another shot in the 12th minute, but Carlos Acevedo saw it the entire way and made the easy stop. Santos had their first opportunity in the 15th minute when a deep ball from Hugo Rodríguez found Eduardo “Mudo” Aguirre in the box, but his deflection missed just wide. Facundo Waller tried his luck in the 23rd but his shot from just outside of the box missed its intended target.

Neither team was able to gain much of an advantage throughout most of the first half, with the few dangerous chances coming off of set pieces. Even those were few and far between, with referee Ismael López letting the players and play sort itself out. The first half came to an end with zeroes on the scoreboard and players from both teams airing their grievances to López.

San Luis came out hot in the second half, immediately winning a corner kick and then getting a header that went just over the bar. Two minutes later they hit Santos on a long ball over the top to Zahid Muñoz, who hit a good shot that was well saved by Carlos Acevedo. Unfortunately for Santos, the rebound went straight to Berterame who knocked it into the back of the empty net.

The lead was short-lived however. In the 51st Mudo Aguirre hit a shot from distance out of the reach of Marcelo Barovero to draw the sides level.

Santos kept the pressure on and in the 55th Ulíses Rívas tried his luck, but Barovero made a nice diving save to knock it down. Santos pulled ahead in the 62nd when a poor turnover went straight to Brian “Huevo” Lozano. Huevo took a touch toward goal and hit it hard, knocking it in far corner past Barovero for his third goal of the season.

San Luis came out looking fro an equalizer. a good ball in for Rubens Sambueza was hit well but Acevedo made a fantastic sliding stop. Then in the 77th Sambueza hit a header that Acevedo made a fantastic diving stop on, knocking it into the crossbar. He also stopped the shot on the rebound at close range to keep the lead for the visitors.

Santos caught San Luis on a counter in the 84th minute, and Harold Preciado made a nice pass from the end line toward the center but Jordan Carrillo couldn’t pull the trigger on the shot and the insurance goal was left on the table. Santos however got it in the 89th on a big miscommunication between Jair Díaz and Barovero, allowing Andrés Ávila to swoop in and tap the ball in for his first goal at the senior level

It looked like Santos had a fourth in stoppage when Dória knocked a Fernando Gorriarán free kick in, but it was rightfully ruled offside. It wouldn’t matter as Santos sunk San Luis’ dreams of getting a home game in the repechaje. San Luis may have lost the battle but won the war, as Santos’ despite the win will miss the playoffs for the first time since the 2019 Clausura.

Club Atlético de San Luis: Marcelo Barovero; Facundo Waller (Jair Díaz, 74’), Emmanuel García, Fernando León, Unai Bilbao (Ramón Juárez, 60’), Zahid Muñoz (Rubens Sambueza, 60’); Javier Güémez, Efraín Orona (José Hernández, 66’), Andrés Iniestra; Germán Berterame, Jhon Murillo (Abel Hernández, 66’)

Santos Laguna: Carlos Acevedo; Carlos Orrantia, Hugo Rodríguez, Matheus Dória, David Andrade; Fernando Gorriarán, Ulíses Rívas; Brian Lozano (Félix Torres, 78’), Diego Medina, Harold Preciado (Leo Suárez, 89’); Eduardo Aguirre (Andrés Ávila, 89’)

Scoring: Club Atlético de San Luis - Germán Berterame (47’); Santos Laguna - Eduardo Aguirre (51’), Brian Lozano (62’), Andrés Ávila (89’)

Disciplinary: Club Atlético de San Luis - Unai Bilbao (Yellow - 29’), André Jardine (Red - 81’); Santos Laguna - None