The first leg of the Clausura 2026 semifinals between Comunicaciones and he evened the series before the second leg.
The own goal came at a time when Comunicaciones seemed poised to take a significant lead into Sunday’s second leg in Quetzaltenango. The Cremas had responded to Xelajú’s tie with Espino’s penalty and looked close to finishing the first leg with the score in their favor, but Pinto’s involuntary deflection completely changed the panorama of the series in the last minutes of the match at the Cementos Progreso.
The match had an intense development with four goals in the second half. Omar Duarte opened the scoring in the 55th for the Cremas, Steven Cárdenas equalized in the 68th for the Superchivos, Karel Espino made it 2-1 in the 79th from a penalty and Pinto’s own goal in the 85th sealed the final 2-2 on a night that had everything at the Cementos Progreso Stadium.
With the aggregate tied 2-2, the tiebreaker favors Xelajú MC for having finished as the leader of Clausura 2026 with 39 points, which forces Comunicaciones to win the second leg on Sunday at 7:00 PM at the Mario Camposeco Stadium in Quetzaltenango to advance to the grand final of the tournament. Otherwise, any draw or defeat would qualify the Superchivos in what promises to be one of the most exciting matches in the league: