Sporting Cristal went into the weekend tied with Sport Huancayo at 25 points, but the balance shifted quickly on October 24, 2026. Huancayo kept pace at the top by beating Alianza Atlético 4-1, then Cristal was hit hard by a 3-1 loss to Cusco FC at the Estadio Inca Garcilaso de la Vega.
That is why the table is being checked now: the lead in the Torneo Clausura was compressed again on fecha 13, and the margin at the top was thin enough to change with one result. Universitario de Deportes added another layer to the chase by beating Juan Pablo II 3-0 and moving to 27 points, while Alianza Lima remained among the clubs sitting on 22 points before the weekend matches finished playing out.
Edison Flores was one of the scorers in Universitario de Deportes' win, alongside Gianluca Lapadula and Lisandro Alzugaray. The result mattered because it showed how quickly one team could climb while another stumbled, and it gave the title race a new shape without settling it. Before the late matches, Cristal had started the weekend as leader and then slipped, while Huancayo held firm and Universitario stayed close enough to turn every goal into a table swing.
The rest of the date only underlined how tight the race had become. UTC lost 2-1 to Melgar on Friday at the Estadio Héroes de San Ramón in Cajamarca, Atlético Grau and ADT de Tarma drew 1-1, and on Sunday Comerciantes Unidos beat Cienciano 3-1 at the Estadio Juan Maldonado Gamarra in Cutervo. Those results did not clear the picture at the top; they kept it crowded, with small gaps and little room for error as fecha 13 moved on.
What matters next is the final updated table after all of fecha 13 is counted, because the standings had already changed shape once and could change again. For now, the safest reading is simple: Sport Huancayo, Sporting Cristal and Universitario de Deportes were the names driving the chase, and every match from here carries the weight of a weekend that tightened the title race instead of settling it.
