Municipal beat Xelajú MC 4-1 in the first leg of the Clausura 2026 final at El Trébol and took a three-goal lead into Saturday’s return match at Mario Camposeco. The second leg was scheduled for 20:00 hours on May 23, 2026, with the title still up for grabs but with Municipal holding the clear advantage.

Jorge Aparicio was suspended and unavailable for Xelajú MC, while Municipal had no suspended players for the decider. Cristian Hernández, Jefry Bantes, Pedro Altán and Alejandro Cabeza scored for Municipal in the opening leg, a result that left Xelajú needing to win by four goals in 90 minutes to become champion, or by exactly three to force extra time and possibly penalties.

For Municipal, the arithmetic was simple. A win, a draw or even a defeat by up to two goals would still be enough to lift the trophy. A three-goal loss would send the series beyond regulation, and anything short of that would leave Xelajú needing a near-perfect night to overturn the first-leg damage.

That is why the trip to Quetzaltenango carried so much weight. Municipal arrived with a three-goal aggregate cushion and, by the source’s count, was 90 minutes away from its 33rd title and from becoming the most successful club in Guatemalan football history. Xelajú, meanwhile, was chasing a historic comeback at home, and the setting gave the match the feel of a final chapter rather than just another leg.

The challenge for Xelajú was not only the size of the deficit but the pressure of having to chase it without Aparicio. Municipal, by contrast, could settle into the second leg knowing it did not need to force the game. The visitors only had to manage the scoreboard long enough to protect what they had built in the first leg.

The live broadcast on Tigo Sports meant the match reached supporters well beyond the Mario Camposeco stands, but the terms of the final were already set before kickoff: Xelajú needed a comeback of four goals in 90 minutes, or three to keep its hopes alive in extra time. Municipal needed only to avoid a collapse large enough to turn a commanding lead into a sudden fight for the title.

The first leg had already given the final its shape. Hernández, Bantes, Altán and Cabeza did the scoring at El Trébol, and their goals left Municipal with the kind of margin that can change the tone of an entire championship. The second leg was expected to test whether Xelajú could produce another memorable response on its home ground or whether Municipal would finish the job and take the 33rd championship it had put within reach.