One of the most famous "urban legends" among Liga MX is that a team does not need to be the best in the regular season to win the title. In the last 20 'Liguillas', only three times has the "Superlíder" end up lifting the Liga MX trophy.
What seemed like just a mere coincidence of a competitive and balanced Mexican league has turned into the "Superlíder curse". Out of all 'Liguillas' played in the short tournament era, only in 22 times (28%) has the Liga MX champion ended up being the best team in the regular season.
This is something that might concern the superstitious among André Jardine's staff and his record-breaking Club América side, whose loss to Atlético San Luis in the 2nd leg of the semifinal ended a run of 19 games without loses, including seven consecutive wins to finish the regular season.
The 'Águilas' 40 points in the league also ranks high in the history of the short tournaments. They fell one point short of tying León's record under the current format, when the 'Panzas Verdes' finished with a total of 41 during the Clausura 2019.
Even though Club América has been able to break the "curse" the most times by any team, they still have bad memories from the last time they topped the league table, being eliminated in the Semifinals by Toluca in the Apertura 2022 tournament.
Out of the 16 times Club América has finished 1st, only five times were they able to win the title. The last time they broke the "curse" was against their rivals for this year's Apertura 2023 final, Tigres UANL, who they defeated 3-1 to win the Apertura 2014 title.
Teams with the most titles after being "Superlíderes" – Since 1970
Club América – 5 titles (out of 16)
Cruz Azul – 5 times (out of 12)
Toluca – 3 times (out of 6)
Pumas UNAM – 2 times (out of 4)
Pachuca – 2 times (out of 4)
In fact, since winning that title against Tigres in 2014, América has fallen short twice when leading the regular season standings. In that period of time, only Cruz Azul (Clausura 2021) and León (Apertura 2020) were able to break the curse and both did so after collecting 41 points.
Since Jardine's appointment, América has been the team to beat in Liga MX, winning 14 of the 21 games he has managed since arriving to this past June.
This year, breaking the "Superlíder curse" will not be an easy task, as Tigres seeks to win back-to-back titles. The recent head-to-head matchups between both sides favor the 'Azulcremas' though, as they hold a 9-game unbeaten streak against them (8-0-1 W-L-D).
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