Santos Laguna Overturns Penalty Setback to Beat Juarez 2-1 in Liga MX Basement Battle

Winning hasn't come easy for anyone lately in the Liga MX basement, but this time it was Santos Laguna's turn: the club overturned a penalty conceded against it to beat Juarez 2-1 at Estadio Corona, scoring twice in just 14 minutes to flip a match that seemed destined to follow the same old script.

Because up until the 53rd minute, the script was going the other way. The first half ended scoreless even though Santos Laguna already controlled possession and created chances, and right after the restart came the blow: a penalty for a foul by Emmanuel Echeverria on Jairo Torres, a yellow card for the defender, and Oscar Estupinan made no mistake from the spot in the 53rd minute to put the visitors up 1-0.

That could have been the moment the hosts fell apart, especially after a scare earlier in the first half: in the 30th minute, VAR overturned a red card shown to Mauricio Cuevas, a reprieve that proved crucial for what followed. With Cuevas still on the field, Santos Laguna found the equalizer ten minutes after conceding the penalty: a cross from Cuevas himself into the box, headed home by Ezequiel Bullaude in the 63rd minute to make it 1-1. And rather than settle for the draw, the team kept pushing until it flipped the scoreline: again with Bullaude providing the assist, Esteban Lozano (who had come on as a substitute) finished with his right foot in the 77th minute for the final 2-1.

The closing stretch still had one more twist: in the 87th minute, Santos Laguna was awarded a penalty after a foul by Jesus Murillo on Lozano himself, but Franco Pardo missed it two minutes later. It didn't matter: the scoreline held.

A Dominance the Numbers Back Up

What Santos Laguna produced wasn't just a proud reaction: the match numbers show a wide gap in control of the game, one that was visible even before the penalty conceded.

The most telling figure is the xG estimate (calculated after the fact based on the match's shots): 4.38 for Santos Laguna against just 1.39 for Juarez. That's a massive gap that confirms the scoreline was no fluke, but rather the result of a match the hosts controlled almost from start to finish, the penalty scare notwithstanding.

The result also stands in contrast to what was projected before kickoff: our preview gave Santos Laguna a 35% chance of winning, 27% for a draw and 38% for Juarez, with a fairly even expected goals split (1.49 for the hosts and 1.58 for the visitors). What actually unfolded on the field strayed well from that balanced forecast: Santos Laguna didn't just win, it did so with a level of superiority the preview hadn't anticipated.

What It Means in the Standings

In the Liga MX table, the win lets Santos Laguna collect all three points, though its record on the season remains tight: one win, one draw and six losses in eight matches played, for 4 points. Juarez, meanwhile, remains without a single point after eight matchdays, with eight losses and a goal difference of -19. The gap between the two sides in the standings, just 4 points, doesn't fully reflect what was seen at Estadio Corona: a Santos Laguna side that, at least for one afternoon, played like a team determined to climb out of the bottom of the table.