Rossi's 96th-minute strike salvages draw for Monterrey against Guadalajara

Lucas Ocampos had the equalizer at his feet in the 15th minute, with a clear-cut penalty in his favor, and sent it straight into the goalkeeper's hands. That miss nearly proved costly for Monterrey for almost the entire match, until the 96th minute, with his team down a man, Diego Rossi showed up to make it 1-1 at Estadio BBVA and avoid what would have been a tough loss to swallow. The final result in Liga MX left the feeling that Guadalajara came within a whisker of taking all three points.

The match opened with a quick blow for Chivas: in the 8th minute, Roberto Alvarado finished with his right foot from the center of the box, low and just inside the left post, off an assist from Santiago Sandoval. The 0-1 forced Monterrey to push forward from then on, and the clearest chance to level the score came right away: a foul by Bryan González inside the box gave the home side a penalty, but Ocampos couldn't convert and the score stayed the same.

That 0-1 scoreline held until halftime, and in the second half the match turned into an end-to-end affair without either goal budging. Diego Campillo rattled the crossbar with a shot in the 69th minute, and both Rossi and Hugo Cuypers pressed for Monterrey without luck. Things got even harder for the home side when, in the 89th minute, Orbelín Pineda was shown a red card and left his team a man down with only a few minutes remaining, plus what turned out to be a generous eight minutes of stoppage time.

It was right in that extra time, in the 96th minute, when Rossi finished from the center of the box, to the right side of the goal, to make it a final 1-1. A finish that, with a man down on the field, had plenty of heroic resistance rewarded in the end.

What the numbers say

Monterrey controlled possession and the flow of the ball, but Guadalajara was more effective where it matters most: close to the opposing goal.

Monterrey held more of the ball and generated more corners, but Guadalajara was sharper at finding the net, with seven shots on target compared to five for the home side. According to our expected goals estimate calculated from the match's shots, Monterrey generated 1.959 xG against 1.476 for Guadalajara, a figure that backs up just how tight the match was despite the home side's territorial dominance.

Beforehand, we had projected a close match, with a 38% chance for Monterrey, 33% for Guadalajara and 29% for a draw, with combined expected goals of 2.74 (1.42 for the home side and 1.32 for the visitors). The final result ended up being exactly the least likely of the three outcomes in our projection, though the goal split wasn't far off from what we anticipated.

What the result means in the standings

Guadalajara came in as the closest pursuer of Club America and now adds points that keep it in second place, while Monterrey remains in the lower half of the table. Between the two there's a gap of 6 points in the overall standings, a distance that Saturday's draw didn't change much. For Monterrey, the point rescued while playing a man down carries special value; for Guadalajara, though, there's the lingering feeling of a win that slipped away in the match's final gasp.