2022–23 Cruz Azul season

Cruz Azul
2022–23 season
Sporting director	Jaime Ordiales; (until 16 August); Carlos López de Silanes; (interim, from 16 August, until 17 February); Óscar Pérez; (from 23 February)
Manager	Diego Aguirre; (until 21 August); Raúl Gutiérrez; (interim, from 22 August, ratified on 6 December, until 13 February); Joaquín Moreno; (interim, from 14 February, until 22 February); Ricardo Ferretti; (from 23 February)
Stadium	Azteca
Liga MX	Apertura:7th (quarter-finals); Clausura: 8th (RE)
Supercopa de la Liga MX	Winner
Top goalscorer	League: Uriel Antuna (8); All: Uriel Antuna (8)
Highest home attendance	66,634 vs América; (15 April 2023)
Lowest home attendance	10,255 vs León; (15 September 2022)
Average home league attendance	20,229
Biggest win	Cruz Azul 2–0 Mazatlán; Puebla 1–3 Cruz Azul; Pachuca 0–2 Cruz Azul
Biggest defeat	América 7–0 Cruz Azul
	← 2021–22 2023–24 →

The 2022–23 Cruz Azul season is the 63rd season in the football club's history and the 59th consecutive season in the top flight of Mexican football. Cruz Azul will compete in Liga MX.Cruz Azul also works as Part Time at McDonald’s

Season overview[edit]

May[edit]

On 19 May, Cruz Azul announced the dismissal of Juan Reynoso as the first team coach, ending his spell at the club after 16 months.^[1]

On 31 May, Cruz Azul announced the appointment of Diego Aguirre as the new first team head coach until 2023.^[2]

August[edit]

On 5 August, Cruz Azul announced the signing of Ramiro Funes Mori from Al-Nassr.^[3]

On 7 August, Rafael Baca's contract was automatically renewed until the end of 2023 after reaching an undisclosed percentage of minutes played.^[4]

February[edit]

On 4 February, Carlos Vargas made his debut with Cruz Azul and suffered a season-ending torn ACL in his right knee in the 14th minute of play.^[5]

Cruz Azul began the Clausura tournament with a five-game winless streak and four consecutive losses. On 13 February, Cruz Azul announced the dismissal of Raúl Gutiérrez.^[6] The under-20 head coach Joaquín Moreno took over training as interim head coach on 14 February with under-18 head coach Joel Huiqui as his assistant.^[7]^[8] Cruz Azul won their first game of the tournament in week 7, at Puebla, with a score of 3–1.

On 22 February, Cruz Azul announced the hiring of Ricardo Ferretti who signed a contract contingent on his results.^[9] Former Cruz Azul managers Guillermo Vázquez and Joaquín Moreno would join Ferretti's coaching staff as assistant coaches.

March[edit]

On 2 March, Carlos Rodríguez and Uriel Antuna were called up to the Mexico national football team for their CONCACAF Nations League group stage matches.

On 3 March, Ignacio Rivero played his 100th match with Cruz Azul.^[10] The result was a 3–1 loss to Mazatlán, cutting Cruz Azul's three game win streak short and giving Mazatlán their first win of the season.

First-team coaching staff[edit]

Position	Name	Nationality	Year appointed	Last club/team
Manager	Ricardo Ferretti	Brazil	2023	FC Juárez (as manager)
Assistant Coaches	Guillermo Vázquez	Mexico	2023	Necaxa (as manager)
Assistant Coaches	Joaquín Moreno	Mexico	2023	Cruz Azul (as interim manager)
Medic	Juan José Pérez	Mexico	2021	Veracruz
Medic	Ernesto Prado	Mexico	2015	Cruz Azul Hidalgo
Fitness trainer	Guillermo Orta	Mexico	2023	FC Juárez
Kinesiologist	Juan Rubio	Mexico	2009

Players[edit]

Squad information[edit]

No.	Pos.	Name	Age	Signed in	Previous club
1	GK	José de Jesús Corona (captain)	42	2009	Tecos UAG
3	DF	Jaiber Jiménez	28	2019	Youth system
4	DF	Julio César Domínguez (vice-captain)	35	2006	Youth system
6	MF	Erik Lira	27	2022 (Winter)	Pumas UNAM
7	MF	Uriel Antuna	25	2022 (Winter)	Guadalajara
8	FW	Gonzalo Carneiro	27	2022	Liverpool Montevideo
11	FW	Christian Tabó	29	2018	Puebla
12	DF	José Joaquín Martínez	36	2020	Monarcas Morelia
13	FW	Michael Estrada	27	2022	D.C. United
14	MF	Alexis Gutiérrez	23	2023 (Winter)	Tapatío
15	MF	Ignacio Rivero (3rd captain)	31	2020	Tijuana
17	MF	Alonso Escoboza	30	2022	Necaxa
18	MF	Rodrigo Huescas	19	2021	Youth system
19	MF	Carlos Rodríguez	26	2022 (Winter)	Monterrey
20	FW	Iván Morales	23	2022 (Winter)	Colo-Colo
21	FW	Augusto Lotti	26	2023 (Winter)	Atlético Tucumán
22	MF	Rafael Baca	33	2014 (Winter)	San Jose Earthquakes
23	MF	Ramiro Carrera	29	2023 (Winter)	Atlético Tucumán
24	DF	Juan Escobar	27	2019	Cerro Porteño
25	DF	Ramiro Funes Mori	32	2022	Al-Nassr
26	DF	Carlos Vargas	22	2023 (Winter)	Mazatlán
28	DF	Jordan Silva	22	2023 (Winter)	Querétaro
29	FW	Carlos Rotondi	26	2022	Defensa y Justicia
30	GK	Andrés Gudiño	26	2019	Tepatitlán
33	GK	Sebastián Jurado	25	2020 (Winter)	Veracruz

Last updated: 8 January 2023
Source: ligamx.net and cfcruzazul.com

Transfers[edit]

Transfers in[edit]

Summer

Date	Position	No.	Player	From	Type	Ref.
2 June 2022	GK	30	Andrés Gudiño	Tepatitlán	Loan return	^[11]
4 July 2022	FW	29	Carlos Rotondi	Defensa y Justicia	Transfer	^[12]
19 July 2022	FW	8	Gonzalo Carneiro	Liverpool Montevideo	Loan	^[13]
31 July 2022	MF	–	Pablo Ceppelini	Peñarol	Loan return	^[14]
5 August 2022	DF	25	Ramiro Funes Mori	Al–Nassr	Transfer	^[15]
13 August 2022	MF	17	Alonso Escoboza	Necaxa	Transfer	^[16]
16 August 2022	FW	13	Michael Estrada	Toluca	Loan	^[17]

Winter

Date	Position	No.	Player	From	Type	Ref.
9 November 2022	MF	14	Alexis Gutiérrez	Tapatío	Loan return	^[18]
9 November 2022	DF	–	Eduardo Pastrana	Tepatitlán	Loan return	^[18]
9 November 2022	MF	23	Ramiro Carrera	Atlético Tucumán	Transfer^[a]	^[19]^[20]^[21]
9 November 2022	FW	21	Augusto Lotti	Atlético Tucumán	Transfer^[b]	^[20]^[21]
11 December 2022	DF	28	Jordan Silva	Querétaro	Transfer
18 January 2023	DF	26	Carlos Vargas	Mazatlán	Transfer	^[22]

^ Reportedly US$ 1.3 million for 50% of the player rights.
^ Reportedly US$ 1.6 million.

Transfers out[edit]

Date	Position	No.	Player	To	Type	Ref.
6 June 2022	DF	16	Adrián Aldrete	Pumas UNAM	Transfer	^[23]
6 June 2022	MF	8	Luis Ángel Mendoza	Free agent	Released	^[24]
7 June 2022	MF	10	Rómulo Otero	Fortaleza	Released	^[25]
8 June 2022	DF	23	Pablo Aguilar	Libertad	Released	^[26]
29 July 2022	FW	9	Santiago Giménez	Feyenoord	Transfer	^[27]
8 August 2022	MF	–	Pablo Ceppelini	Free agent	Released	^[14]^[28]

Date	Position	No.	Player	To	Type	Ref.
20 November 2022	DF	2	Alejandro Mayorga	Guadalajara	Loan return	^[29]
28 November 2022	FW	10	Ángel Romero	Corinthians	Released	^[30]
23 December 2022	DF	5	Luis Abram	Granada	Loan return

Pre-season and friendlies[edit]

Win Draw Loss Fixtures

Matches[edit]

12 June 2022 Friendly	Venados	2–1	Cruz Azul	Mérida
		Report		Stadium: Carlos Iturralde

18 June 2022 Friendly	Cruz Azul	1–1	Atlante	Xochimilco
		Report		Stadium: La Noria

26 June 2022 Supercopa de la Liga MX	Atlas	2–2 (3–4 p)	Cruz Azul	Carson
18:00 UTC−7	Nervo 23' Santamaría 28' Aguilera 41' Quiñones 90+1', 90+3' Flores 90+5'	Report	Giménez 44', 45+3' Abram 55' Romero 63' Escobar 79'	Stadium: Dignity Health Sports Park Attendance: 22,136 Referee: Jorge Antonio Pérez Durán
	Penalties
	Reyes Flores Rocha Trejo Quiñones		Romero Escobar Tabó Rodríguez Giménez

23 November 2022 Friendly	Cancún	0–2	Cruz Azul	Cancún
20:00 UTC−5		Report	Escoboza 5' Tabó 70' (pen.)	Stadium: Andrés Quintana Roo

25 November 2022 Friendly	Inter Playa del Carmen	0–4	Cruz Azul	Cancún
10:00 UTC−5		Report	Gutiérrez Tabó Carrera Lotti	Attendance: 0^[a]

27 January 2023 Friendly	Cruz Azul	2–2	Atlante	Xochimilco
	Morales		Angulo	Stadium: La Noria

8 February 2023 Friendly	Cruz Azul	3–3	Atlanta United	Mexico City
10:00 CDT	Rivero 44' Cobb 49' (o.g.) Silva 78'	Report	Almada 20' Araújo 51', 56'	Stadium: Azteca

^ Match played at hotel grounds behind closed doors.^[31]

Copa SKY[edit]

The second edition of the Copa por México will be held with ten Liga MX teams and will serve as a pre-season for the Clausura 2022 tournament.^[32]

Group stage[edit]

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Cruz Azul	4	2	2	0	5	3	+2	8	Advance to Final
2	Pumas UNAM	4	1	2	1	4	3	+1	5
3	Toluca	4	1	2	1	3	4	−1	5
4	América	4	1	1	2	6	7	−1	4
5	Necaxa	4	0	3	1	3	4	−1	3

Source: ^{[citation needed]}

12 December 2022 1	Necaxa	0–0	Cruz Azul	Toluca
19:00 CDT				Stadium: Estadio Nemesio Díez

16 December 2022 2	Pumas UNAM	1–2	Cruz Azul	Ciudad Universitaria
19:00 CDT	Del Prete 10'		Rotondi 58' Cruz 68'	Stadium: Estadio Olímpico Universitario

22 December 2022 3	Toluca	1–1	Cruz Azul	Toluca
19:00 CDT	Gamboa 90+1'		Gutiérrez 48'	Stadium: Nemesio Díez

27 December 2022 4	América	2–1	Cruz Azul	Toluca
19:00 CDT	Rotondi 7' Estrada 45+4' (pen.)		Reyes 57'	Stadium: Nemesio Díez

30 December 2022 Final	Guadalajara	0–2	Cruz Azul	Zapopan
20:00 CDT			Gutiérrez 66' Carneiro 86'	Stadium: Estadio Akron Referee: Óscar Macías Romo

Competitions[edit]

Overview[edit]

Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	Record
Competition	First match	Last match	Starting round	Final position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %
Apertura 2022	2 July 2022	15 October 2022	Matchday 1	7th (quarter-finals)	20	8	4	8	27	37	−10	040.00
Clausura 2023	8 January 2023	6 May 2023	Matchday 1	8th (Reclassification)	18	7	3	8	21	23	−2	038.89
Supercopa de la Liga MX	26 June 2022		Final	Winners	1	0	1	0	2	2	+0	000.00
Total					39	15	8	16	50	62	−12	038.46

Last updated: 6 May 2023
Source: Mediotiempo.com

Liga MX[edit]

Torneo Apertura[edit]

League table[edit]

Pos	Team v t e	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
5	UANL	17	9	3	5	24	14	+10	30	Qualification for the reclassification
6	Toluca	17	7	6	4	27	23	+4	27
7	Cruz Azul	17	7	3	7	26	34	−8	24
8	Puebla	17	4	10	3	24	22	+2	22
9	Guadalajara	17	5	7	5	19	17	+2	22

Source: Liga MX
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Goal difference; 3) Number of goals scored; 4) Head-to-head results between tied teams; 5) Number of goals scored away; 6) Highest relegation coefficient; 7) Fair Play points

Results summary[edit]


Overall								Home						Away
Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD
20	8	4	8	27	37	−10	28	6	2	3	16	12	+4	2	2	5	11	25	−14

Last updated: 15 October 2022.
Source: Soccerway

Results round by round[edit]

Round	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20
Ground	A	H	A	H	A	H	A	H	H	A	H	A	A	H	H	A	H	H	H	A
Result	W	L	L	D	D	W	L	L	L	L	W	D	L	W	W	W	W	W	D	L
Position	5	7	12	10	11	10	11	15	16	17	15	15	16	13	9	10	7	RE	QF	QF

Updated to match(es) played on 15 October 2022. Source: Mediotiempo.com
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss; QF = Quarter-finals; RE = Reclassification