Yesterday, Pumas defeated Tigres 4-1 at home after a grueling 120 minutes, leaving the two teams tied 4-4 on aggregate after two legs and setting up a penalty shootout to determine the title. Tigres took it home 4-2 in penalty kicks. Wow. WTF. It was a final that defied all logic – one that went above and beyond the imaginable and into a realm of dream-like sequences that I once thought were only attainable in the most profound depths of my REM cycles. Holy shit. There’s simply no use in attempting to do this magic justice through words, you just have to (re)watch it.
In an effort to capture the emotion of last night’s second-leg madness, here’s a play-by-play brought to you gracias a the Liga MX Twitter fam.
Lalo Herrera converts at the buzzer to make it 1-0 heading into halftime, 1-3 on aggregate.
Matias Britos scores an outrageously beautiful cabezazo (check that neck movement) 10 minutes into the second half, setting the score at 2-0, 2-3 on aggregate.
Game over? NOPE. Silvio Torales miraculously gets his head on Ismael Sosa’s corner and scores in the dying minutes. The game is set at 3-0, 3-3 on aggregate. ?????
What. Is. Happening. Is this some sort of sick (and glorious) joke? We duck into extra time like:
https://twitter.com/NoMemesFutbol/status/676256614702301186
This game has it all. The only thing missing?
Oh wait. We need an Andre-Pierre Gignac golazo, of course. The dude has quite literally lost his legs but somehow still manages to muster up enough energy to gift us an extra-time wonder goal. Fifteen goals on the year, four in Liguilla. Now we’re good, fam. 3-1, 3-4 on aggregate.
https://twitter.com/joshuasomething/status/676267711790374913
We’re having trouble catching our breath, and then Gerardo Alcoba has to go and do THIS. Are you for real? 4-1, 4-4 on aggregate.
Basically:
https://twitter.com/therealismael1/status/676265162719019008
Penalty shootout time. Tigres converts all four, Fidel Martínez goes wide, Javier Cortés is stopped, and Los Felinos are crowned Liga MX champions for the fourth time in the club’s history. Take a deep breath.
https://twitter.com/NoMemesFutbol/status/676284370076966912
The year of Ricardo “El Tuca” Ferretti is complete.
https://twitter.com/FutbolIntellect/status/676269703011037185
https://twitter.com/NoMemesFutbol/status/676273029740142592
But Pumas also goes out with its head held high.
Fútbol wins. Liga MX wins.