'[Club America's] three-peat is tainted' - Pachuca's Salomón Rondón heats up Las Águilas vs Tuzos rivalry

Pachuca will face América in the Clausura 2025 quarterfinals. The first leg will be played this Wednesday at Estadio Hidalgo, while the second leg will be held Saturday at Estadio Ciudad de los Deportes, América’s home ground. Venezuelan striker Salomón Rondón stirred up the lead-up to the Liguilla clash by claiming that América’s three-peat is tainted. Rondón recalled their knockout series in Clausura 2024, which América won with a controversial late goal by Julián Quiñones, originating from a debatable referee decision.

"That three-peat is pretty tainted because of certain things. When we were at the Azteca, it was clearly our throw-in, but of course, América sells more,” Rondón told Fox Sports. “I’m not taking away their merit, but without that play, the match would’ve ended, and we wouldn’t be talking about América as three-time champions,” added the Venezuelan, who is preparing for another showdown against Las Águilas.

In their Clausura 2025 regular-season meeting, the team from Hidalgo defeated América 1–0 at home with a goal from Rondón, ending the Azulcremas’ six-match unbeaten streak in Liga MX.

There’s no doubt that Pachuca is aiming to eliminate América and prevent André Jardine’s team from achieving a historic four-peat. Guillermo Almada’s Tuzos see this quarterfinal matchup as a chance for revenge after what happened in Clausura 2024, when they were just seconds away from advancing to the semifinals - only for a stoppage-time goal by Julián Quiñones to send América through, a moment that paved the way for their back-to-back titles.

Pachuca lost just one of the nine home matches they played in the current tournament, so securing a positive result this Wednesday could be crucial in the outcome of the series.

In an interview with ESPN, the captain of Las Águilas revealed why Pachuca has been a headache for América in recent years, recalling their elimination in the 2024 CONCACAF Champions Cup.

"When you come off a loss in the CONCACAF Champions Cup against Pachuca, they come in with positive momentum and you with negative momentum, and then a week after being eliminated, you have to face them again (Clausura 2024), and it’s tough. It happened with Pachuca, but it could’ve happened with any other team — it’s partly mental," said Álvaro Fidalgo.

América has a tough time facing Pachuca in the knockout stages, as the Tuzos have advanced in five out of their seven Liguilla meetings. In their most recent clash during the "Fiesta Grande," Las Águilas advanced in the Clausura 2024 quarterfinals thanks to a late goal by Quiñones in the 90+4 minute, securing a spot in the semifinals, where they later went on to win back-to-back titles against Cruz Azul.