One year ago, Cruz Azul finished the Liga MX Apertura 2023 season in 16th place, scoring only 17 points and missing out on the playoffs. A year later, La Maquina capped off the greatest 17-game regular season in Liga MX history, topping the league with a record-setting 42 points.
Martín Anselmi arrived at the start of the calendar year to revitalize a sleeping giant. During his first season, Cruz Azul finished second in the regular season and lost the final against bitter rivals Club América. Instead of dwelling on yet another lost final, Anselmi and La Máquina entered the Apertura 2024 season with a vengeance, topping the league from Matchweek 2 onwards.
Ángel Sepúlveda's dramatic goal in stoppage time against Tigres salvaged a point that put Cruz Azul above the previous 41 point record. León in the Clausura 2019 and Cruz Azul in the Guardianes 2021 shared the previous benchmark. Both teams made it to the final that season, but Cruz Azul was the only one that managed to raise the title—the last one in club history.
Anselmi's side will hope to emulate what happened in 2021 with the playoffs on the horizon. La Máquina are the clear favorites to dethrone América. Nevertheless, this team is already historic and firmly in the conversation for one of the greatest teams ever in Liga MX.
4️⃣2️⃣ puntos. Récord histórico en 17 jornadas. 💙 pic.twitter.com/jkWpgssCGn
— CRUZ AZUL (@CruzAzul) November 10, 2024
How Many Goals Did Cruz Azul Score During the Liga MX Apertura 2024 Regular Season?
- Cruz Azul scored 39 goals in 17 regular season games, one more than second place Toluca, and over 10 more than Atlético San Luis and América who tied for third.
Who Scored the Most Goals for Cruz Azul During the Liga MX Apertura 2024 Regular Season?
- Ángel Sepúlveda was the team's top scorer with nine, finishing second in the golden boot race to Toluca's Paulinho, with 13. Four other Cuz Azul players finished among the top 10 goal-scorers. Rodolfo Rotondi with seven, Giorgos Giakoumakis with six, plus Lorenzo Faravelli and Ignacio Rivero scored five each.
Who Assisted the Most Goals for Cruz Azul During the Liga MX Apertura 2024 Regular Season?
- Luis Romo set the team and Liga MX pace with six assists in 16 games played. Romo returned to Cruz Azul this season and once again found his best level, becoming a starter for the Mexican national team along the way.
What Was Cruz Azul's Record During the Liga MX Apertura 2024 Regular Season?
- Cruz Azul finished with a 13W-3D-1L record. La Maquina finished unbeaten at home and secured the No. 1 seed for the playoffs three games before the end of the regular season. It finished seven points clear atop the standings.
How Many Goals Did Cruz Azul Concede During the Liga MX Apertura 2024 Regular Season?
- Cruz Azul conceded 12 goals during the regular season, the least of any team in Liga MX. It scored over three times as many goals as it conceded.
How Many Clean Sheets Did Cruz Azul Keep During the Liga MX Apertura 2024 Regular Season?
- Cruz Azul kept a clean sheet in nine of the 17 regular season games it played, all of them with Kevin Mier between the sticks.
Who Played the Most Minutes for Cruz Azul During the Liga MX Apertura 2024 Regular Season?
- Goalkeeper, Kevin Mier, and center back, Willer Dita, played every minute (1,530) of the Apertura 2024 regular season. The two Colombians have been essential to Anselmi's system since his arrival to Liga MX.
READ THE LATEST SOCCER NEWS, PREVIEWS, PREDICTIONS, TRANSFER RUMORS AND MORE
This article was originally published on www.si.com as Cruz Azul's Historic Liga MX Apertura 2024 Season: By the Numbers.
