León traces back and heads to ninth title in Mexico with a win over Atlas

(Reuters) – León took the first step towards his ninth title in Mexican soccer on Thursday after coming back from an adverse score on two occasions and winning 3-2 at home to Atlas in the first leg of the final of the Grita México A21 tournament.

For the Lion, the Ecuadorian Ángel Mena scored – a double – and the Chilean Víctor Dávila were the scorers, while Luis Reyes and the Argentine Julio César Furch had advanced to the “Rojinegros” of the Atlas.

Leon vs. Atlas, intense match

The match, played at the Nou Camp de León stadium, was very intense and contested with arrivals in both goals. Atlas took the lead in the 11th minute with a shot from Reyes in the center of the area after a long throw-in from the right side.

León equalized in the 37th minute through Dávila, who finished with a well-placed shot that hit the ball from the right corner.

León came close to scoring the second goal in the 54th minute with a shot from Chilean Jean Meneses, but the ball crashed off the crossbar.

Atlas took the lead again in the 65th minute with a powerful shot from Furch inside the area after a pass from Colombian Julián Quiñones.

León achieved the equalizer again in the 78th minute when Mena defined from the right after goalkeeper Camilo Vargas parried a powerful shot from Meneses.

The home team turned the score around in the 86th minute by way of a penalty kick scored by Mena with a powerful shot after Aldo Rocha fouled Dávila in the area.

In this way, León will try to raise the champion trophy as a visitor in the second leg that will be played on Sunday at the Jalisco stadium, home of Atlas.

León seeks his ninth title after those obtained in the seasons 1947-1948, 1948-1949, 1951-1952, 1955-1956, 1991-1992, and in the Apertura 2013, Clausura 2014 and Guard1anes 2020 tournaments.

Meanwhile, Atlas will seek to take advantage of its local status to end the drought of titles that it has suffered for seven decades and win the coveted championship for the second time after achieving it in the 1950-1951 season.