Puebla Storms Back to Stun Santos Laguna in Cuauhtemoc Thriller

Puebla had barely touched the ball before it was already down on the scoreboard. In the 3rd minute, an own goal from Facundo Almada made it 0-1 at Estadio Cuauhtemoc, and everything pointed to a long afternoon for the home side. But the match ended 3-2 in Puebla's favor, a comeback that was built between the end of the first half and the start of the second.

Eduardo Mustre leveled things quickly, in the 8th minute, with a strike from outside the box that snuck in by the post after an assist from Carlos Baltazar. The teams went into the break tied at 1-1, but the script got complicated again for Puebla right at the start of the second half: Ezequiel Bullaude headed home a corner kick delivered by Fran Villalba to make it 1-2 in the 50th minute. Santos Laguna, who had arrived at this match without a single point on the season, held the lead in their hands.

It lasted three minutes. Mustre scored his second of the day in the 53rd minute with a left-footed strike from the middle of the box, again off a corner kick, and eight minutes later Carlos Baltazar completed the turnaround with a low shot that made it a final 3-2 in the 61st minute. From there, Puebla managed the lead even as Santos Laguna created some chances through Ramiro Sordo and Bullaude, but couldn't find the equalizer.

A Match Where Possession Ran Opposite to the Result

The curious part is that Puebla won with less of the ball. Santos Laguna dominated possession and passing, but it was the home side that arrived with more danger and cutting edge. The numbers make it clear:

With 16 shots to 6, Puebla was far more direct, and that gap also shows up in the xG calculated after the fact based on shot locations: 1.559 for Puebla against 0.644 for Santos Laguna. That's not a prediction but a read on what each team generated once the match had been played, and it confirms that the home side's attacking output was more dangerous despite having nearly 24 fewer points of possession.

What the Preview Said and What Happened on the Field

The projection published before kickoff gave Puebla a 57% chance of winning, with 17% for Santos Laguna and 26% for a draw, with expected goals of 1.75 for the home side and 0.88 for the visitors. The final result, a 3-2 with three lead changes in just 58 minutes, wound up tighter and more dramatic than those figures suggested, even though the eventual outcome, a Puebla win, did match the favoritism assigned before the match began.

The win leaves Puebla with 10 points from 5 matches played, in fifth place in the standings, just one point off the group fighting at the top. Santos Laguna, meanwhile, still hasn't picked up a win: five matches played and zero victories, sitting last with 0 points and a goal difference of minus 7. The 10-point gap between the two sides in the standings is already considerable at this stage of Liga MX, and this result only widens the gulf in terms of how each side feels about its season, even if the scoreboard itself stayed nerve-wracking right to the end.