Pumas bounced back from trailing by two goals at halftime to get a 4-2 victory over FC Juarez. In a controversial but exciting match, Pumas ended their Clausura 2026 season at home for the regular season with a victory that has them temporarily at 2nd place of the Liga MX. Pumas will close out the regular season with an important away match against direct rival for second place Pachuca. FC Juarez will end their season (they are eliminated from the Liguilla) by hosting another eliminated team in Atletico San Luis.

The 1st half started with Pumas coming out with Goalkeeper Pablo Lara and Pedro Vite taking the the place of suspended Keylor Navas and Adalberto Carrasquilla (Vite’s a regular started but Pumas went more offensive by dropping him down and having Jordan Carrillo take Vite’s place). A cross into the area was badly cleared, forcing Lara to go and punch the ball away in a dangerous chance. A cross into the area was headed well by Robert Morales but Juarez’s goalkeeper, Sebastian Jurado, made a good save on it. A cross into the area was headed just wide by a wide open Ruben Duarte. A longball into the area was lowered by Juninho but his right footed shot went wide. A throw in into the area would eventually fall to Carrillo, who scored off a right footed shot but it was disallowed for a foul. After Pumas lost a ball just outside the area, Ettson Ayon would get to ti and get off a left footed shot that forced a save from Lara. Off a counter, Francisco Navarez was given time and space to get off a right footed shot that went past Lara and into the net to score and give FC Juarez the surprising 1-0 lead. From outside the area, Carrillo got off a right footed shot that went well wide. Off a corner kick, the cross was deflected into the path of Juninho, who headed it from close range but it was cleared by Denzell Garcia off the line. The ball fell to Alan Medina, who twice got off right footed shots that were blocked by Juarez’s defense. Off another counter, Jairo Torres would get off a right footed shot after getting into the area and it would go past Lara and into the net to score and give Juarez the 2-0 lead. Pumas would lose another ball and Jose Luis Rodriguez would get a wide open header in the area that went wide. The halftime whistle blew as FC Juarez surprised a pretty mediocre Pumas.

The 2nd half started with Pumas subbing out Juninho for Angel Rico. Rodrigo Lopez got off a right footed shot from outside the area that went wide. After being fouled, Medina looked to have been injured. Incredibly the referee didn’t call a foul but after going to VAR, he gave a red card to Eder Lopez and FC Juarez would have 10 players as Medina was carted off the field because of his injury. Uriel Antuna would come into the match for the injured Medina. FC Juarez subbed out Jairo Torres for Javier Aquino. A cross into the area was headed by Morales but his header was deflected right to Jurado. After going to VAR, the ref saw that the ball wasn’t deflected by Jesus Murillo but he had handled the ball and gave Pumas a Penalty Kick. Guillermo Martinez stepped up to take the PK and his left footed shot went past Jurado for the goal that placed the score at 2-1. FC Juarez subbed out Ettson Ayon for Luca Martinez Dupuy. A left footed shot from Vite was blocked by Jurado, who left the ball there for Martinez to get a close range shot that Jurado would make a great save on. A cross into the area was headed from close range by Guillermo Martinez, past Jurado to score and tie the match at 2-2. A header from close range by Martinez Dupuy would go just wide. A cross into the area was volleyed by Carrillo right to Jurado. FC Juarez subbed out Denzell Garcia for Homer Martinez. Pumas subbed out Rodrigo Lopez for Antonio Leone in a surprising defensive move. Pumas continued to go for that third goal as the rain started to increase, making the conditions tough for both sides. After a good run by Antuna, he would get off a cross that Robert Morales would head from close range past Jurado to score and give Pumas the 3-2 lead. After the referee gave 14 added minutes, Morales would get the ball in the area but his right footed shot was easily saved by Jurado. Pumas subbed out Jordan Carrillo for Dennis Ramirez. After a longball into the area was won by Robert Morales, he got off a right footed shot past Jurado and into the net to score and increase the lead to 4-2. Off a longball counter, Morales got off a pass into the path of Antuna, whose right footed shot went just wide. Pumas would held on and the match would end with a key victory that keeps them temporarily in second place.

Pumas continued their great Clausura 2026 season by bouncing back and getting a key victory against FC Juarez. It was a great performance but a costly one as news came out that Alan Medina had broken his ankle and would miss out the rest of the tournament. Medina had been a key player for Pumas and will be a big miss for Pumas, who once again didn’t have as great performance overall. Like against Mazatlan, Pumas had dominated the match in the first 20 minutes but unlike that match, they failed to score. Like with Mazatlan, they faltered but if that match only had 1 goal allowed, this time they allowed 2 goals and had failed to score. The 2nd half was a turn around but it had a lot to do with Juarez going down to 10 players in that play where Medina was injured. Pumas made it 3 straight victories against rivals that had worse records than Pumas. Now they will close out their season in an away match against Pachuca, the team that is their direct rival for that second place spot in the standings. Pumas is temporarily in second place but will have to await Pachuca’s result on Wednesday away to Tijuana to know if they will remain in second place. Pumas will have to go all out in that match as they need to go into the Liguilla with as high a position in the standings as possible. FC Juarez is already eliminated and will host Atletico San Luis in a meaningless match with both teams out of the Liguilla.