Cruz Azul

Mexican Liga MX
15 Feb 2027
Monday
Process
28 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

8 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

30 days out for Andrés Montaño after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cruz Azul will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Player ratings

Carlos Rotondi was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 31. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Cruz Azul

The unbeaten run reaches 10. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Market

Cruz Azul turn down Monterrey for Luka Romero

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Market

Erik Lira raises the bar for Cruz Azul

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Cruz Azul heard it as anything else.

Market

Lautaro Guzmán wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Jeremy Márquez stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Jeremy Márquez and Cruz Azul agree another 5 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Nicolás Ibáñez falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

Nicolás Ibáñez named player of the month

The award goes to Nicolás Ibáñez, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.

In brief

Back issues
27 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

1 Feb 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Squad

38 days out for Andrés Montaño after a fracture

A bone, which is the one injury with a calendar attached. Cruz Azul will name a return date and, unusually for this business, will probably be right about it.

Market

Pumas UNAM come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Cruz Azul did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

The dugout

Andrés Desábato: that is not what I was promised

“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” Cruz Azul have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Omar Campos

Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Cruz Azul

The unbeaten run reaches 9. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Match

Cruz Azul make home a hard place to visit

12 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 3 in, 2 out at Cruz Azul

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 3 arrived, 2 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Market

Carlos Rodríguez wants more than Cruz Azul are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Nicolás Ibáñez is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.30 with 17 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

In brief

26 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

25 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

A fracture rules Andrés Montaño out for 46 days

Bones knit. That is the one merciful thing about this injury and the reason Cruz Azul will talk about it more openly than they would about a knee. He will be back, and roughly when they say.

Player ratings

Both of them Nicolás Ibáñez's — 8.96

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.96, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Omar Campos

Successful dribbles: 30. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Cruz Azul spend $3.2M to raise the standard

This is not cover and nobody is pretending it is. $3.2M has been paid because Nikola Vasilj is straightforwardly better than what was already here, and the club has decided to stop waiting.

Match

Nobody wants to play Cruz Azul right now

5 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Squad

Nikola Vasilj arrives at the club he grew up with

Every footballer has an answer to the question about his boyhood club, and most of them never get to act on it. Nikola Vasilj has, at Cruz Azul, and the first month will show what that does to a man.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on Nicolás Ibáñez

16 goals and a season average of 7.28 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Squad

Nicolás Ibáñez in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cruz Azul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

The terraces

The town asked, and Cruz Azul paid $3.2M

Nikola Vasilj was the name on every phone-in, and the club has gone and signed him for $3.2M. For one week the board can do no wrong, which is a week most boards never get.

In brief

25 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

18 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Match

Cruz Azul run riot against Dorados

4‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Market

Cruz Azul pay Arsenal $3.8M for a proper upgrade

Arsenal did not want to sell and the number is why they did. $3.8M for Lautaro Guzmán, and the expectation that arrives with him is the kind no amount of settling-in period softens.

Player ratings

Amaury Morales, 21, steals the show — 8.08

Marked 8.08 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Match

Nobody wants to play Cruz Azul right now

4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.

Player ratings

Up for the corner, and Willer Ditta delivers — 7.97

Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Willer Ditta scored, was marked 7.97, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.

Match

Nobody wins at Cruz Azul

11 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Squad

Words at Cruz Azul training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Nicolás Ibáñez is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Transfer targets

Queretaro tell Cruz Azul: Edison Gruezo is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Squad

Nicolás Ibáñez is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.23 with 14 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

In brief

24 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

11 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Triumph

Market

Cruz Azul sell their best player to Olympique de Marseille

$27.9M is a serious amount of money and it does not play centre-forward. Everybody in the dressing room knows who used to be looked at when it went wrong.

Match

Mateo Levy sends Cruz Azul through

Cup ties wait for somebody to seize them, and Mateo Levy obliged against Santos Laguna. 1‑0 on the night, and the name in the next round’s hat is Cruz Azul.

Match

Cruz Azul run riot against Guadalajara

3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Player ratings

Both of them Agustín Palavecino's — 8.35

2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.35, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.

Player ratings

No sign of nerves from Mateo Levy at 20 — 7.97

The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mateo Levy did not need any: 7.97, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.

Player ratings

Jeremy Márquez was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 27. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

The terraces

Supporters turn on the $27.9M sale of José Paradela

He is going to Olympique de Marseille, the club has $27.9M it did not have on Friday, and the phone-ins have already decided how they feel about that. Selling well and selling somebody they loved are not the same skill.

Transfer targets

Huracán tell Cruz Azul: Sebastián Meza is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Market

Cruz Azul sign Roberto de la Rosa for $1.8M

The paperwork is done: Roberto de la Rosa joins from Monterrey in a deal worth $1.8M. Now comes the harder part.

In brief

23 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

4 Jan 2027
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

José Paradela puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Cruz Azul, and it is not being withdrawn.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Carlos Rotondi

Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Deportivo La Coruña come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Cruz Azul did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Squad

3 goals for Nicolás Ibáñez

The match ball belongs to Nicolás Ibáñez, whose 3 goals turned a difficult afternoon into a procession.

Squad

José Paradela honoured for the season

The kind of year that ends with a name being read out in a hall. Cruz Azul had the benefit of it every week and now have the problem of everybody else knowing.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Cruz Azul walk away from Edison Gruezo

$270.0K was the most the club would pay and Queretaro were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Transfer targets

Cruz Azul rebuffed over Diogo Bagüí

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Tijuana have kept their man, and Cruz Azul go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Player ratings

One of those days for Nicolás Ibáñez

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.52, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Match

Nicolás Ibáñez the difference as Cruz Azul beat Leon

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nicolás Ibáñez. 3‑2 against Leon, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

In brief

22 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

28 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Carlos Rotondi runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 30. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Nicolás Ibáñez in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cruz Azul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Victor Portillo gets the move he always wanted

Footballers are asked about their boyhood club so often that nobody listens to the answer. Victor Portillo has just signed for Cruz Azul, and for once the answer mattered.

Squad

Words at Cruz Azul training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Lira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Match

Nobody wins at Cruz Azul

8 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.

Squad

Carlos Rotondi makes it 200

200 times in these colours, in all weathers and under four or five different managers. That kind of service is quietly disappearing from the game.

Player ratings

Carlos Rodríguez in the eights

A performance of 8.00 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

The dugout

Luka Romero gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Match

Cruz Azul share the spoils with Toluca

A 1‑1 draw with Toluca leaves the dressing room somewhere between relief and regret.

In brief

21 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

21 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

José Paradela leads the rout of Chiapas

5‑0, and José Paradela took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Cruz Azul tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Player ratings

A brace, and José Paradela takes the afternoon — 9.41

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. José Paradela provided it, and the 9.41 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Squad

Defences have started doubling up on José Paradela

18 goals and a season average of 7.35 will do that. The space he used to find has gone; he keeps scoring anyway, which is the mark of the real thing.

Market

Erik Lira raises the bar for Cruz Azul

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Cruz Azul heard it as anything else.

Squad

A row about effort at Cruz Azul

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erik Lira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

50 goals in the shirt for José Paradela

50 for the club now, each one filed in somebody’s memory with a date and a scoreline. Numbers like this are what supporters argue about in twenty years.

Player ratings

Nicolás Ibáñez in the eights

A performance of 8.46 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

Agustín Palavecino in the eights

A performance of 8.32 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Player ratings

Carlos Rotondi was on a different afternoon to everybody else

8.02. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

In brief

20 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

14 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Match

Cruz Azul run riot against Morelia

3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.

Squad

José Paradela takes the match ball home

3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.

Squad

José Paradela is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.29 with 16 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Market

Cruz Azul may not be able to give Carlos Rotondi what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Carlos Rotondi wants continental football; whether Cruz Azul can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Player ratings

Amaury Morales was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Player ratings

José Paradela was on a different afternoon to everybody else

9.64. There are performances a supporter describes to somebody who was not there and cannot quite convey; this was one, and the number does not help either.

Match

At last: Cruz Azul win one

6 matches without a win, and then this, against Morelia. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.

Squad

Tempers go at Cruz Azul

Omar Campos was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

The dugout

A satisfied Jorge Pineda

“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 3‑0, Jorge Pineda could afford to be generous.

In brief

19 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

7 Dec 2026
From our football correspondent Crisis

Market

José Paradela puts it in writing

“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Cruz Azul, and it is not being withdrawn.

Market

Sport Recife come back empty-handed

The bid was some way short and Cruz Azul did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.

Match

After 13 games, Cruz Azul finally taste it again

The first defeat in 13 matches. The manager will say it had to come; the dressing room will say it did not have to come against Pachuca; the supporters will say both, in that order, all week.

Match

No end in sight to Cruz Azul's wait for a win

6 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Cruz Azul has to find a result from somewhere.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Carlos Rotondi

Successful dribbles: 24. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Erik Lira wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

A falling-out at Cruz Azul

Nicolás Ibáñez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Erik Lira falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

Cruz Azul come up short against Pachuca

Pachuca left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.

In brief

18 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

30 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Uneasy

Player ratings

Carlos Rotondi runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 36. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Match

13 unbeaten for Cruz Azul

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 13 matches without defeat is a foundation Cruz Azul did not have in the autumn.

Match

No end in sight to Cruz Azul's wait for a win

5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Cruz Azul has to find a result from somewhere.

The dugout

Mateo Levy says Cruz Azul went back on their word

“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.

Market

José Paradela wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

Nicolás Ibáñez in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cruz Azul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Squad

Erik Lira falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Squad

José Paradela is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.23 with 13 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

Match

José Paradela answers Puebla immediately

Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. José Paradela had Cruz Azul level again within 2 minutes, and Puebla never got to play with a lead at all.

In brief

17 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

23 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Match

Still nobody has beaten Cruz Azul

The unbeaten run reaches 12. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Player ratings

Jeremy Márquez beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 28. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Carlos Rodríguez wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Match

The wait goes on for Cruz Azul

4 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.

Squad

Tempers go at Cruz Azul

Nicolás Ibáñez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

Luka Romero signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Luka Romero commits to Cruz Azul for another 5 years.

Squad

Appearance number 200 for Jeremy Márquez

200 games in this shirt, through managers and relegations and everything else. Service like it is disappearing from the game and the crowd knows what it is watching.

Match

Halfway: Cruz Azul sit in position 5

31 points at the turn. The first half of a season is a promise; the second is a bill, and the town is about to find out which of the two this one was.

Match

Two points walk out of the ground

Level with 93 minutes on the clock, after an afternoon Cruz Azul had all but put away. Tijuana will call it a point earned; the home dressing room will call it two given away, and both of them are right.

In brief

16 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

16 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Jeremy Márquez was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 34. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Match

11 unbeaten for Cruz Azul

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 11 matches without defeat is a foundation Cruz Azul did not have in the autumn.

Market

Erik Lira wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Cruz Azul hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

Words exchanged at Cruz Azul

Nicolás Ibáñez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

Words at Cruz Azul training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Lira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

The dugout

No hiding place for Andrés Desábato

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Andrés Desábato, and the manager let it.

The dugout

Andrés Desábato dropped after a run of poor form

The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Jorge Pineda chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.

The dugout

Gonzalo Piovi gets picked when it counts

Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Gonzalo Piovi is on it.

In brief

15 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

9 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Squad

8 saves: Andrés Gudiño was the team

Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 8 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.

Match

10 unbeaten for Cruz Azul

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 10 matches without defeat is a foundation Cruz Azul did not have in the autumn.

Market

Carlos Rodríguez wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Cruz Azul hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

A falling-out at Cruz Azul

Nicolás Ibáñez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Words at Cruz Azul training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Lira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Looking ahead

Derby week at Cruz Azul

Club America next, which means a week that starts on Monday. Everything else on this page will be forgotten by Saturday; this fixture will not be forgotten for a year.

Match

Late, late show earns Cruz Azul a point

Minute 90, against Monterrey, and a goal that felt like a win to everybody who had stayed. It was a draw. Nobody leaving the ground will describe it as one.

Player ratings

Amaury Morales runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

The dugout

Cruz Azul pick somebody else ahead of Andrés Desábato

There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.

In brief

14 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

2 Nov 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Andrés Montaño was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 40. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Match

Cup progress for Cruz Azul

A 2‑0 win over Atlas, a place in the next round, and the quiet arithmetic every supporter does on the walk home: how many more until a final?

Match

Cruz Azul win it in stoppage time

The board had gone up, the arguing had started, and then the ball was in the net in the 96th minute. Atlas will replay every second of the added time for a week.

Player ratings

Luka Romero, 21, steals the show — 7.80

Marked 7.80 at 21, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.

Match

9 unbeaten for Cruz Azul

Hard to beat is not the same as winning, but 9 matches without defeat is a foundation Cruz Azul did not have in the autumn.

Market

José Paradela raises the bar for Cruz Azul

“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Cruz Azul heard it as anything else.

Squad

José Paradela is in the form of his life

A season average of 7.23 with 12 goals behind it. Opponents have started planning around him, which is the sincerest compliment football pays.

The terraces

One of their own: Luka Romero

He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.

Player ratings

Carlos Rodríguez in the eights

A performance of 8.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

In brief

13 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

26 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Carlos Rodríguez wins it after the whistle should have gone

94 minutes played. Carlos Rodríguez found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Tigres went from a point to nothing inside one movement.

Player ratings

A brace, and Carlos Rodríguez takes the afternoon — 8.22

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Carlos Rodríguez provided it, and the 8.22 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Cruz Azul

The unbeaten run reaches 7. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Squad

Erik Lira falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

Carlos Rodríguez the difference as Cruz Azul beat Tigres

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Carlos Rodríguez. 3‑2 against Tigres, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Nicolás Ibáñez

Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Squad

José Paradela is carrying Cruz Azul

11 goals and a season average of 7.21. Form like that gets noticed well beyond this town.

Player ratings

One of those days for Agustín Palavecino

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.21, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

The dugout

The manager makes an example of Andrés Gudiño

“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.

In brief

12 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

19 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Omar Campos was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 41. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

Words exchanged at Cruz Azul

Nicolás Ibáñez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Squad

The step up is real for Cristopher Benítez

At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.

Squad

A row about effort at Cruz Azul

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erik Lira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Match

Still nobody has beaten Cruz Azul

The unbeaten run reaches 6. Some of them were wins and some were escapes, but a side that refuses to lose is a side other dressing rooms talk about.

Squad

A muscle injury and 14 days out for Brayan Moctezuma

The most common injury in the game and the most rushed back from. Cruz Azul will quote 14 days and will be careful with it, because the second one is always worse than the first.

The dugout

Andrés Desábato dropped after a run of poor form

The one version of being left out a player cannot argue with, and the one he takes worst. Somebody else has been better and the team sheet says so, in public, every week until it changes.

The dugout

No hiding place for Luka Romero

“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Luka Romero, and the manager let it.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We did not lose. Some weeks that is all you get, and I would rather have the point than not.” Jorge Pineda chose the glass-half-full version of 0‑0; the supporters left with the other one.

In brief

11 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

12 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Omar Campos

Successful dribbles: 46. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Match

José Paradela breaks Santos Laguna hearts

Some goals win a match and some take one off somebody else. José Paradela scored in the 89th minute, Santos Laguna had already begun thinking about the journey home, and Cruz Azul took the lot.

Squad

Agustín Palavecino signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Agustín Palavecino commits to Cruz Azul for another 4 years.

Squad

A falling-out at Cruz Azul

Nicolás Ibáñez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Market

Carlos Rotondi has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Cruz Azul can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Match

Cruz Azul find a way past Santos Laguna

Santos Laguna made Cruz Azul work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.

Player ratings

Nobody on the pitch touched José Paradela

7.91, and no serious argument from anybody who was there. Cruz Azul had eleven men on the pitch and one of them decided how it went.

Squad

5 new faces, and Cruz Azul are still learning each other

A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.

The dugout

Jorge Pineda has his say

“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Jorge Pineda on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.

In brief

10 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

5 Oct 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Market

Cruz Azul may not be able to give José Paradela what he wants

It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. José Paradela wants continental football; whether Cruz Azul can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.

Squad

Nicolás Ibáñez in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cruz Azul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Player ratings

Amaury Morales was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

Squad

Words at Cruz Azul training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Lira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Squad

The month belongs to José Paradela

The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Cruz Azul have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.

Squad

Luka Romero makes the team of the month

Four or five weekends of consistency, measured against everybody else in the division. A quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.

The dugout

Somebody else is better right now than Omar Campos

The team sheet says it in public every week until it changes. The only version of being dropped a footballer cannot argue with, and the one he takes hardest.

The dugout

Half-satisfied: Jorge Pineda on the draw

“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.

Player ratings

The chances came and went for José Paradela

9 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.

In brief

9 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

28 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

José Paradela leads the rout of Queretaro

5‑1, and José Paradela took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Cruz Azul tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.

Player ratings

A brace, and Nicolás Ibáñez takes the afternoon — 9.59

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nicolás Ibáñez provided it, and the 9.59 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Squad

A day José Paradela will not forget

3 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Market

Carlos Rodríguez has his eye on Europe

It is not a grievance and it is not a demand: he wants to play continental football, and he has stopped hiding it. Whether Cruz Azul can give him that is a question about the club, not about him.

Match

Cruz Azul make it 3 in a row

Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Cruz Azul have 3 straight wins of it.

Squad

Tempers go at Cruz Azul

Nicolás Ibáñez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Match

José Paradela among the goals in a wild afternoon

6 goals in one match, José Paradela on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Cruz Azul and Queretaro.

Player ratings

José Paradela in the eights

A performance of 9.87 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.

Squad

Erik Lira falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

In brief

8 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

21 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Match

Cruz Azul tear Dorados apart

Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 3‑0 against Dorados, and it could have been more.

Player ratings

A brace, and Carlos Rodríguez takes the afternoon — 8.30

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Carlos Rodríguez provided it, and the 8.30 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Player ratings

Nobody could get near Amaury Morales

Successful dribbles: 29. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.

Market

Erik Lira wants more than Cruz Azul are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Words exchanged at Cruz Azul

Nicolás Ibáñez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Market

One of our own: Roberto Herrera joins the Cruz Azul first team

Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Roberto Herrera is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.

Market

Jose Herrera steps up from the Cruz Azul academy

There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Jose Herrera has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.

Market

Cruz Azul promote Ivan Gutierrez from within

The academy exists for exactly this morning. Ivan Gutierrez has come through every age group the club runs and has now been handed a senior number, and the people who coached him at twelve will be the proudest in the building.

Squad

Number 50 for Agustín Palavecino

50 goals for this club, and somewhere in the stand there is a person who can still tell you where they were for most of them.

In brief

7 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

14 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Player ratings

Carlos Rotondi beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 31. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

José Paradela wants more than Cruz Azul are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Words at Cruz Azul training over how hard people work

Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Erik Lira is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.

Match

Nicolás Ibáñez the difference as Cruz Azul beat Guadalajara

Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Nicolás Ibáñez. 2‑0 against Guadalajara, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.

Player ratings

One of those days for José Paradela

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.52, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

Player ratings

Ninety minutes of Nicolás Ibáñez at his very best

Marked 8.20. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at Cruz Azul.

The dugout

The view from the dugout

“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Jorge Pineda, on a 2‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.

The dugout

Alan Mozo is still paying for one afternoon at Cruz Azul

Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.

Market

The José Paradela question follows Cruz Azul around

Every press conference now starts and ends the same way: with José Paradela’s future. The manager has run out of new ways to say nothing.

In brief

6 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

7 Sep 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Carlos Rotondi beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 37. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Cruz Azul turn down Levante for Nicolás Ibáñez

The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.

Boardroom

Window shuts: 15 in, 6 out at Cruz Azul

The deadline has passed and the squad is the squad. 15 arrived, 6 left, and everything else printed about this club last month was a rumour that stayed one.

Transfer targets

Deadline beats Cruz Azul to Aldahir Pérez

The clock did what Tijuana would not, and ended it. Supporters who watched the countdown will spend the next window doing it again.

Squad

A row about effort at Cruz Azul

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Erik Lira was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

Squad

A falling-out at Cruz Azul

Omar Campos and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Match

Leon take the points off Cruz Azul

Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.

The dugout

Andrés Desábato gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

Squad

The month belongs to José Paradela

The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. Cruz Azul have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.

In brief

5 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

31 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Eyes on Nicolás Ibáñez again

The phone has started ringing about Nicolás Ibáñez again, and this time the name on the line is Levante. Cruz Azul are listening politely and promising nothing.

Market

Cruz Azul sign Carlos Adrián Sánchez with one eye on the future

Nobody at the club will say out loud who this signing is for, which is how you know exactly who it is for. Carlos Adrián Sánchez has been brought in to take a shirt somebody is still wearing.

Market

Emi Ochoa moves on

Pumas UNAM pay $1.1M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.

Squad

Tempers go at Cruz Azul

Nicolás Ibáñez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Cruz Azul walk away from Marcel Ruiz

$230.0K was the most the club would pay and Toluca were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

The terraces

Cruz Azul spend $3.7M on the signing the town wanted

It is the rarest sequence in football: supporters ask for something, and the club goes and does it. $3.7M for Carlos Adrián Sánchez, and for one week nobody is complaining about anything.

Player ratings

Carlos Rotondi was unplayable

Successful dribbles: 16. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.

The dugout

Jorge Rodarte gets it from the manager

“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.

The dugout

The form table has caught Omar Campos

Somebody else has been better, the manager has said so with a team sheet, and there is no argument to be had. He will get the shirt back the only way it can be got back.

In brief

4 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

24 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Squad

A day José Paradela will not forget

5 goals in one game. The first was taken well, the second was taken greedily, and by the third the crowd were simply waiting for him to get the ball.

Match

No mercy from Cruz Azul

Chiapas will want this one forgotten quickly: 6‑1, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Cruz Azul were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.

Transfer targets

Carlos Adrián Sánchez due for a Cruz Azul medical

Everything agreed with Pachuca, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.

Transfer targets

Cruz Azul rebuffed over Eliás Montiel

Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Pachuca have kept their man, and Cruz Azul go back to a list with one name crossed off it.

Market

Cristopher Benítez asks to leave Cruz Azul

“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.

Player ratings

Carlos Rotondi runs at them all day

Successful dribbles: 23. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.

Squad

Words exchanged at Cruz Azul

Nicolás Ibáñez and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.

Transfer targets

Too dear: Cruz Azul walk away from Jaziel Martínez

$360.0K was the most the club would pay and Morelia were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.

Player ratings

One of those days for José Paradela

There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.99, and no argument anywhere in the ground.

In brief

3 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

17 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Upbeat

Market

Cruz Azul say no — this time

The offer from Osasuna for Nicolás Ibáñez was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Player ratings

A brace, and Nicolás Ibáñez takes the afternoon — 8.83

There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Nicolás Ibáñez provided it, and the 8.83 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.

Market

Emi Ochoa says no to Seattle Sounders

“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Emi Ochoa had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.

Player ratings

Carlos Rotondi beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 26. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Transfer targets

Cruz Azul baulk at the price for Oribe Edson

Veracruz wanted more than $1.6M and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.

Squad

A falling-out at Cruz Azul

Nicolás Ibáñez and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.

Squad

Erik Lira falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Match

Cruz Azul see off Morelia

Three points for Cruz Azul, 2‑1 the final word against Morelia in a contest settled by the finer margins.

The dugout

The manager’s verdict

“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Jorge Pineda kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.

In brief

2 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

10 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Steady

Player ratings

Carlos Rotondi beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 34. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Gabriel Fernández turns Blackburn Rovers down

“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.

Market

Cruz Azul say no — this time

The offer from Guadalajara for Willer Ditta was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Transfer targets

Cruz Azul bid $1.6M for Oribe Edson

The offer went to Veracruz this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Market

Carlos Rodríguez wants to know where this is going

“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at Cruz Azul hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.

Squad

José Paradela signs a new deal

“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” José Paradela commits to Cruz Azul for another 4 years.

Transfer targets

Cruz Azul bid $360.0K for Jaziel Martínez

The offer went to Morelia this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.

Squad

Tempers go at Cruz Azul

Nicolás Ibáñez was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.

Squad

A row about effort at Cruz Azul

Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and José Paradela was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.

In brief

1 Edition

The Cruz Azul Gazette

3 Aug 2026
From our football correspondent Triumph

Player ratings

Carlos Rotondi beats them one at a time

Successful dribbles: 34. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.

Market

Cruz Azul say no — this time

The offer from Leganés for Gabriel Fernández was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.

Market

José Paradela wants more than Cruz Azul are offering

“I have ambitions, and I would like the club to share them.” Nobody has asked to leave and nobody has been shown the door — but a player chooses that sentence carefully, and a boardroom hears it exactly as it was meant.

Squad

Willer Ditta stays put

“The easiest signature of my career.” Willer Ditta and Cruz Azul agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.

Squad

Nicolás Ibáñez in a row with a teammate

It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Cruz Azul this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.

Transfer targets

Pachuca tell Cruz Azul: Carlos Moreno is not for sale

The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.

Market

Carlos Rotondi wants European nights

The general version of this complaint is that a player wants more. The specific version names the thing: he wants to walk out under floodlights against clubs from other countries, and he has stopped pretending otherwise.

Squad

José Paradela falls out with a teammate over standards

The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.

Market

Seattle Sounders join the queue for Emi Ochoa

Add another name to the list: Seattle Sounders have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Emi Ochoa. The answer from Cruz Azul has not changed — yet.

In brief