When Cruz Azul most needed someone to resolve the dominance they exerted over Puebla in the second half, “Pantera” Christian Ebere appeared. The Nigerian attacker saved the celestial team from a setback at home and sealed the 2-1 victory, thus adding his second victory of the Apertura 2026 tournament.

This victory represented the second consecutive success for the current Liga MX champion using the same formula: coming from behind. Just last week, the Machine rose from 2-0 down against Atlético San Luis to win with scores from Gabriel “Toro” Fernández and a double from Jeremy Márquez.

In that duel in Potosí territory, the local team had taken the lead with goals from the Frenchman Sébastien Salles-Lamonge and the Spanish Rafael Llorente, which made us think for a moment of a triumphant debut for the Mexican coach Diego Mejía.

Puebla surprised with verticality

Just 96 hours after that grueling debut, Cruz Azul once again got into trouble during his presentation to his people. The Puebla Strip showed a pleasant and vertical style, led by the Uruguayan Emiliano Gómez and the Colombian Kevin Velasco as the main spearheads.

The tactic worked for the visit. At 28 minutes into the first half, Fernando Monárrez took advantage of a mistake in the light blue mark to put the Puebla squad ahead. This forced Cruz Azul—who already has his mind set on the duel against Toluca for the Champion of Champions—to add more fuel to the grill than he had planned.

The camoteros' goal was born from a combination of negative complicities in the local defense: José Paradela lost his mark, Monárrez escaped alone and took a powerful shot from outside the area that beat the attempt of Colombian goalkeeper Kevin Mier.

The celestial answer

After the blow, Cruz Azul stepped on the accelerator. The reward came in the right sector, where Jeremy Márquez once again shined with a measured center for Luka Romero. The attacker only had to hit the ball to send it into the back of the net, declaring the tie just moments before the end of the first half.

For the second half, the Machine technician moved his pieces with a carousel of changes:

With these modifications, the celestials besieged the Puebla goal, although they suffered from poor aim for much of the complement.

When it seemed that the tie was sealed, the talented men appeared eight minutes from the end. Jeremy Márquez teamed up with Paradela, who filtered a pinpoint pass for the Nigerian Ebere to shoot and score the final 2-1. A valuable victory that maintains the champion's winning momentum.