Ricardo Marín gave Chivas the lead over Santos with a calm penalty finish, sending the ball slowly to the right side after VAR stepped in to review the play in the Comarca Lagunera.
The goal came after Santiago Sandoval was fouled inside the area following a push and a kick, a sequence that needed Vicente Jassiel Reynoso to detect the infraction and mark the penalty. Once the call stood, Marín took the ball and beat Carlos Acevedo, turning a disputed moment into the scoreline that changed the match.
For Chivas, it was the kind of break that can shift a difficult visit. The team did not have its best performance away in the Comarca Lagunera, but the penalty gave Guadalajara a lead it could build on and a much clearer path in a match that had been tight before the review.
That is what gives the moment its weight: the finish was simple, but the route to the spot was not. The referee needed the video check to see the contact, which makes the play both decisive and slightly uneasy for Santos, whose defense and goalkeeper were left to absorb a call that went the other way after the review.
Marín’s strike also points forward. Chivas now turns to its next Apertura 2026 match, set for Saturday, August 22 against Xolos de Tijuana at Estadio Akron at 17:07 hours, a game that will tell whether this goal was only a lead or the start of a cleaner result.
