Toluca thrashes San Luis with goal from Portuguese Paulinho

Toluca beat Atletico San Luis 2-1 on Sunday at the end of the fifth day of Mexico’s Apertura football tournament thanks to a goal from Portugal’s Paulinho.

With their third win, the Toluca Red Devils have 11 points and are third overall, behind Cruz Azul and Monterrey, who have 13 points each.

In the match, played at the Nemesio Diez stadium in Toluca, the local team took the lead in the 30th minute thanks to Jesús Gallardo, who headed the ball between the legs of goalkeeper Andrés Sánchez.

Atletico San Luis equalised in the 37th minute thanks to a powerful strike from Luis Najera in the penalty area.

Paulinho scored the winner for Toluca in the 60th minute, scoring with his left foot after the goalkeeper had gone out of control after capitalising on a defensive error.

Toluca ended the game with one player down after Victor Arteaga was sent off in the 69th minute for a hard foul on Brazilian Rodrigo Dourado.

On Saturday, Puebla thrashed defending champions America 1-0 away, Necaxa beat Bravos de Ciudad Juarez 3-0, Atlas beat Pumas UNAM 2-1, Tigres UANL and Guadalajara tied 1-1, the same score recorded in the match between Leon and Santos Laguna.

Cruz Azul started the day with a 2-0 win away to Queretaro on Friday to take the overall lead in the tournament with 13 points, the same as Monterrey but with a higher goal difference.

Mazatlan beat Pachuca 3-0 and Tijuana held on to an agonising 2-2 draw at home to Monterrey in the introduction of Argentine Martin Demichelis as technical director of Monterrey’s Rayados.

Demichelis was appointed head coach of Monterrey on August 12, replacing Argentine Fernando “Tano” Ortiz. (Reuters)

#J5 | Again with an advantage 👹

And another goal from Paulinho to make the Hell gang fall in love with him even more. 😏@TolucaFC 2-1 @AthleteSanLuis #Opening2024pic.twitter.com/Ky7R12R7xX

— Liga BBVA MX (@LigaBBVAMX) August 25, 2024