Santos Laguna goalkeeper Carlos Acevedo made history on Saturday, scoring his first goal for the club to equalize the match against Queretaro at 3-3.
At the 100th minute mark, Acevedo joined players at the opposite end of the pitch as Santos attempted their last play of the night with a corner kick. Uruguayan figure Fernando Gorriarán set up the shot, inspiring the goalkeeper to head the ball past Washington Aguerre and into the bottom right corner of the goal.
The captain sent players into a frenzy, as incredulous reactions filled Corregidora Stadium.
“The reality is I’m extremely happy for scoring the goal, it means we tied the game and it gives us the motivation to keep working hard. A loss would have been extremely hard for us. But I am very happy. It is usually a play that we work in training, with Omar Tapia with the players that set up shots,” said the goalkeeper after the match.
“It’s a joke sometimes, but they are situations in life that sometimes we have to improvise, and today we did it. We did the play today, and I headed it and we got the goal.”
The draw leaves the club in third place on the 2022 Liga MX Apertura table, with 26 points in 14 games and a record of 8W-4L-2D. With only four games left in the regular season, Santos remains on track to qualify directly for Liguilla. Though 12 teams qualify for the playoffs, the top four clubs avoid a final series before reaching the postseason tournament.
But Wednesday’s match against Club America might be their biggest test yet, as Santos travels to Azteca Stadium to confront the league leaders, who have defeated opponents like Cruz Azul 7-0 already this season.