MEXICO (AP) – Nicolás Ibáñez celebrated a double on Thursday and Pachuca opened the Mexican Clausura tournament with a 2-0 victory over Atlético de San Luis.
The Argentine forward scored the first of his goals by taking advantage of a Víctor Guzmán pass from a wing, to send the ball to the nets in the 59th minute.
In the fifth minute of the replacement, Ibáñez made the second, with the collection of a penalty kick, which the referee Óscar Macías pointed out after resorting to the video replay to assess a foul on Kevin Álvarez.
Los Tuzos debuted the points locker by adding their first three in the debut of Uruguayan strategist Guillermo Almada on his bench. San Luis was left without units.
Ibáñez achieved the double against the team to which he belonged until last July. His first goal involved a high degree of difficulty in lifting his right leg at the exact moment to change the direction of the ball towards the goal.
Until that moment Pachuca manifested his dominance on the scoreboard, after in the first half the Ecuadorian Romario Ibarra and Erick Sánchez fired distant shots on the crossbar.
The hosts also had a clear option to take the lead at the stroke of half an hour, when Argentine striker Germán Berterame – last year’s scoring champion with nine goals – made a faulty shot off the goal, to the center of the newly incorporated Rubens Sambueza.
The naturalized veteran Sambueza began at age 38 a new adventure with his seventh team in national football and the ninth in his career that began in 2003 with River Plate from his native Argentina.
Liga MX started this new championship after postponing the Santos vs. Tigres y Pumas vs. Toluca due to the COVID-19 outbreaks that were detected in the feline and scarlet ensembles tests.
The opening day will continue on Friday with two games. Ciudad Juárez receives Necaxa and Puebla will host América.
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