This Thursday, May 16, at 9:00 p.m., Rayados will host Cruz Azul at Estadio BBVA for the first leg of the Semifinal of the Clausura 2024 Tournament.

Monterrey advanced to the Semifinal after winning in the Clasico Regio quarterfinal and will be looking to beat Cruz Azul to advance to the Final of the competition.

This will be Monterrey's 22nd Semifinal in the history of Liga BBVA MX, making it the fourth team with the most Semifinal stages, only behind America(42), Cruz Azul (23) and Toluca (23).

This will be the sixth time that both teams have faced each other in short tournaments in the Playoffs.

The five previous games were in the Quarterfinals of the 2005 Clausura, the Final of the 2009 Apertura, the Semifinal of the 2018 Apertura, the Playoffs of the 2021 Apertura and the Quarterfinals of the 2022 Apertura.

Monterrey has beaten Cruz Azul on three of the five occasions, with the 2009 Apertura Final being the most memorable for the Albiazules' fans.

The support of the Albiazul fans will be fundamental in order to advance to the Final and together seek the championship of the competition.

Andrés Jiménez