There is no other way to say this: Raul Jimenez ran around for 48 minutes of Benfica's league cup final Sunday with a luchador mask in his pants.
It's a good thing he had it handy, too:
Raul Jimenez played 48 minutes with a lucha libre mask tucked into his shorts. A+ commitment to a celebration. pic.twitter.com/cn9ZPMiu8s
— Jon Arnold (@ArnoldcommaJon) May 28, 2017
It had been over 10 years since Chivas last captured a Liga MX title, but the final 20 minutes of the 2017 Liga MX Clausura Final must’ve seemed an even longer period for supporters in Guadalajara.
Much like the first leg, Chivas built a 2-0 lead behind goals from Alan Pulido and Jose Vazquez only to surrender a late goal to Ismael Sosa in the 87th. With the likes of Andre-Pierre Gignac, Jurgen Damm, Javier Aquino and Jesus Duenas desperately searching for a Tigres equalizer, long-suffering fans of Mexico’s most popular team were made to sweat over the match’s final minutes.
Over 62,000 Mexico supporters bore witness to a bit of El Tri history on Saturday night at the Los Angeles Coliseum as Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez moved clear of Jared Borgetti as the national team’s all-time leading goal scorer with 47.
Remarkably, Chicharito and Borgetti share the same strike rate for Mexico. The Santos Laguna legend scored 46 in 89 matches, and the Bayer Leverkusen striker has scored 47 in 91 — both make for an average of 0.52 goals per game.
Chivas were on the verge of taking a 2-0 lead back to Estadio Chivas for the second leg of the 2017 Liga MX Clausura Final, but Andre-Pierre Gignac scored two remarkable goals, in the 85th and 88th minutes, to level the tie for Tigres.
For Chivas, the first 45 minutes in Estadio Universitario really couldn’t have gone any better. For Tigres and goalkeeper Nahuel Guzman, it was a disaster.
The opening 20 minutes were no indicator of what was later to come as Tigres saw Gignac, Jesus Duenas, Lucas Zelarayan and Ismael Sosa all fire shots at Rodolfo Cota in the Chivas goal.
After years of internal turmoil and flirtation with relegation to Ascenso MX, Guadalajara are on the verge of regaining their status as one of the top clubs in Mexico with a two-legged Liga MX final against Tigres this week. This will be the first league final for Chivas in just over 10 years.
After a rough start to the 2017 MLS season for both Giovani dos Santos and the LA Galaxy, the club are now unbeaten in their last four matches following Sunday’s 2-1 away win over Minnesota United — a run that has seen Dos Santos register three goals and an assist.
Tigres, the 2016 Liga MX Apertura champions, are now on the verge of the 2017 Clausura Final after defeating top-seeded Tijuana 2-0 in the first leg of their Liguilla semifinal. Lucas Zelarayan opened the scoring with a sumptuous goal in the 42nd minute, and a visibly shaken Tijuana side gave up a second only three minutes later to Javier Aquino.
Juan Carlos Osorio has announced the preliminary 32-player squad, which will later be reduced to 23, that will battle for Mexico throughout June in two crucial World Cup qualifiers, including one against the United States at the Azteca, and the 2017 FIFA Confederations Cup in Russia.
This group of predominantly foreign-based players will not receive any break following the end of their European club seasons as Mexico will face Croatia in Los Angeles on May 27 and Ireland in New Jersey on June 1 in friendly matches.
Of Raul Jimenez's 21 goals in his Benfica career, 14 have come after the 70th minute, with five match-winners.
Jimenez's prowess in the clutch was on display this weekend when in the 75th minute he scored the only goal of the match against Rio Ave to give Benfica the win.
Fans of MLS will remember Camilo Sanvezzo from his time with the Vancouver Whitecaps, during which he did this:
That goal was nominated for the Puskas Award, but Sanvezzo, now with Queretaro in Liga MX, has quite possibly outdone himself.