Who will survive the final fight? Six clubs chase the last Play-In ticket in Liga MX Apertura 2025

The math is simple and brutal. With one matchday left in the Apertura 2025, six Liga MX teams remain trapped in the most stressful place in football: the edge of elimination. One Play-In spot. Six hopefuls. Zero room for error.

Cruz Azul, Toluca, América, Tigres, Rayados, and Chivas? They’re already packing for Liguilla nights. Juárez, Pachuca, and Xolos? Locked into the Play-In.

That leaves one golden seat and a chaotic final weekend to claim it.

Pumas hold the key… but can they handle the weight?

If the season had ended last weekend, Pumas would already be in. Sitting 10th with 18 points, they control their destiny. Beat Cruz Azul, and no one else matters.

Sounds simple. It isn’t.

La Máquina is fighting for the No. 1 spot in the league. They’re not coming to make anyone’s life easy especially not in a match that could ignite or erase UNAM’s season narrative.

Pumas fans know this script all too well: hope, nerves, heartbreak or redemption.

The pack of chasers: five teams, one lifeline

Right behind Pumas stand five clubs clinging to life, calculators out, prayers up, scoreboards on refresh mode:

Santos, Atlas, Querétaro: 17 points

San Luis, Necaxa: 16 points

Each needs to win. Each needs Pumas to slip. And each faces a hostile away test to stay alive.

This is what late-season drama tastes like in Liga MX desperation and adrenaline.

The road to survival: fixtures that decide everything

Friday kicks off the chaos:

• Querétaro visits Juárez

• Atlas faces Xolos

• Necaxa travels to Mazatlán

Win or you’re gone. Simple as that.

Saturday? It gets real:

• San Luis goes into El Volcán vs Tigres chasing the top seed

• Pumas vs Cruz Azul in a game with ripple effects across the league

Sunday finishes the job:

• Santos vs Pachuca could be a party or a funeral depending on what happened the night before

One play, one bounce, one moment that’s the difference between a season remembered and a season erased.

The bottom line

The final Play-In ticket isn’t about who deserves it. It’s about who refuses to fall.

The league’s giants are already waiting. The lights are about to get brighter. And somewhere between Mexico City, Juárez, Monterrey, and Torreón… a dream is going to die and another will crack the door to Liguilla glory.

Welcome to Liga MX. Nothing is promised. Everything is earned.