Atlas completed a dramatic late comeback at the Estadio Caliente on Friday night, overturning a 2-1 halftime deficit to defeat Xolos Tijuana 3-2 in Jornada 10 of the Liga MX Apertura 2026. Luis Esteves converted an 87th-minute penalty, confirmed by VAR three minutes earlier, and Florian Monzon struck in the first minute of added time to seal a result that moves the Rojinegros provisionally into the top four.
The defeat is a painful one for Tijuana, which led through first-half goals from Mourad El Ghezouani and Jose Rivero but conceded twice in the final five minutes. It is the second consecutive match in which the Xolos have dropped points from a winning position after the 87th minute, after the 2-2 draw at Pachuca a week ago ended the same way.
Xolos Tijuana vs Atlas result
Atlas made the brighter start and took the lead in the 15th minute when Ryan Mmaee finished to put the visitors ahead. Tijuana responded six minutes later: Mourad converted a penalty to make it 1-1, and the turnaround was complete in the 37th minute when Rivero scored from a chance created by Adonis Preciado to give the Xolos a 2-1 halftime lead.
The second half belonged to the visitors. Atlas pressed for the equalizer and was rewarded in the 84th minute when a VAR review confirmed a penalty following an incident involving Kevin Zenon. Esteves dispatched the spot kick in the 87th minute to level the score at 2-2. With Tijuana stunned, Atlas struck again in the first minute of added time: Zenon set up Monzon for the winner, his second decisive late involvement of the evening.
There were no red cards on the night. Tijuana’s Ramiro Arciga and Jonathan Padilla were booked, as were two Atlas players (Sergio Hernandez among them).
Key match stats
The numbers underline how the match tilted toward Atlas after the break. The visitors dominated possession and produced the majority of the attempts on goal, while Tijuana’s two first-half goals came from a much smaller share of the ball.
| Stat | Xolos Tijuana | Atlas |
|---|---|---|
| Possession | 30% | 70% |
| Shots | 10 | 17 |
| Shots on target | 5 | 6 |
| Corners | 5 | 11 |
| Saves | 3 | 4 |
Source: Sportradar match data.
Three takeaways
Atlas is a road team now. The win at the Estadio Caliente was the fourth away victory of the tournament for Hernan Crespo’s side, after previous triumphs at Leon, Santos Laguna and Cruz Azul. Twelve of Atlas’s 17 points this season have come on the road, a striking split that has quietly carried the Rojinegros into the top four. Their home record tells the opposite story, which makes the Clásico Tapatío after the break a test of whether they can convert home form to match it.
Zenon was the difference in the final half hour. The Argentine attacker first helped force the VAR-confirmed penalty that brought Atlas level in the 87th minute, then delivered the assist for Monzon’s 91st-minute winner. Mmaee had given Atlas the early lead but was withdrawn in the 74th minute; it was Zenon, not the starting strikers, who shaped the comeback. With Duk out for the rest of the tournament after his knee injury, Atlas needs contributions like these from its wide players.
Tijuana keeps losing points late. The Xolos have now dropped five points from winning positions in their last two matches, both times after the 87th minute: the 2-2 draw at Pachuca in Jornada 9 ended with an 89th-minute equalizer, and Friday’s 2-3 loss to Atlas followed an identical script with the 87th-minute penalty and the 91st-minute winner. Two home defeats in three games at the Estadio Caliente have also eroded one of the strongest home records in the league; the game management of late leads is now the clearest concern for Sebastian Abreu’s side.
What the result means for the Liga MX table
Atlas climbs to 17 points from 10 matches (5 wins, 2 draws, 3 defeats), with a goal difference of -1 (16 scored, 17 conceded). The victory moves them provisionally to fourth in the general table, behind Toluca (19), Chivas Guadalajara (18) and Club America (17, with a better goal difference), though Jornada 10 remains incomplete and both Cruz Azul and Querétaro can still overtake them.
It also ends a four-match winless run that stretched back to late August, and it lifts Atlas above the Play-In cluster into the provisional direct Liguilla places, a significant shift with seven rounds remaining.
Tijuana, meanwhile, stays on 14 points from 9 matches (4 wins, 2 draws, 3 defeats, goal difference +1) and slips to eighth provisionally, pending the remaining Jornada 10 fixtures. The Xolos still hold a game in hand, the postponed fixture against America, which remains the outstanding match of the tournament calendar. For a complete view of how every club is placed after this round, see FutnSoccer’s Liga MX viewing hub.
What comes next
Liga MX now pauses for the remainder of the September/October international window, with Jornada 11 scheduled for October 9-11. Atlas returns with one of the biggest fixtures of the season: the Clasico Tapatio against Chivas Guadalajara on Saturday, October 10 at the Estadio Jalisco.
Tijuana travels to face FC Juarez on the same Saturday in Jornada 11, a chance to stop the late-game bleeding before the postponed America fixture is eventually rescheduled. Friday’s other result, Atlante’s 4-2 win over Monterrey, and last week’s dramatic Toluca 2-3 Santos Laguna finish both underline how volatile the middle of the table has become this Jornada.
