Club America will begin the defence of their Liga MX titles on Sunday when they travel to face Atletico San Luis at the Estadio Alfonso Lastras.
The Eagles finished top of the table in both the Apertura and Clausura during the regular season, before going on to clinch both titles in the playoffs.
Match preview
San Luis will kick off the new season hoping to improve on their performance from last term, as they got knocked out of the Apertura at the quarter-final stage and failed to qualify for the playoffs in the Clausura.
Atleti de San Luis will be aiming to recapture the dominance they displayed in the 2018-19 season, where they secured their only two titles to date.
The club's board were not satisfied with manager Gustavo Leal's performance and let him go at the end of last season, replacing him with former Pep Guardiola's assistant manager, Domenec Torrent.
The former New York City manager will be in charge for his first game with the club when they welcome the reigning champions on Sunday, and his first point of call will be avenging last season's Apertura playoff defeat.
However, San Luis has not had much luck in this fixture historically, losing 11 times and winning just four out of 15 meetings, with no draws.
Club America dominated Liga MX last season, clinching both the Apertura and Clausura titles for the first time in their history.
The Eagles displayed utter supremacy, finishing top of both leagues during the regular season where they lost just three matches across both competitions, before going on to defeat every opponent during the playoffs on their way to the titles.
Former San Luis manager, Andre Jardine, was the man that led America to both titles after switching sides in June 2023 and he will be hoping to replicate that level of success this year.
The Mexico City side were automatically awarded the Campeon de Campeones (a trophy contested between the Apertura and Clausura winners) as a result of winning both league titles, and they have further bolstered their trophy cabinet by beating Tigres 2-1 on Sunday to win the Supercopa de la Liga MX.
America will be confident of starting their title defence with a win, having enjoyed their trips to San Luis, where they have won seven of their last eight visits, losing just once.
Team News
Ahead of the new season, San Luis have signed centre-back Cristiano Piccini from Sampdoria, and midfielder Ronaldo Najera from Tigres UANL U23, on free transfers.
However, 30-year-old centre-back Unai Bilbao left the club on a permanent transfer to Club Tijuana for €2.8 million.
Yan Phillipe is likely to spearhead the attack for the home side, as he looks to quickly get off the mark this season.
Club America have bolstered their goalkeeping department with the signings of Rodolfo Cota and Jonathan Estrada, as Luis Malagon is sidelined with a muscle injury until mid July.
Midfielders Diego Valdes and Illian Hernandez will also miss this clash, as they are dealing with foot and leg injuries respectively.
However, defensive midfielder Ivan Rodriguez has joined the champions from Leon, while central midfielder Erick Sanchez made the switch from Pachuca.
Atletico San Luis possible starting lineup:
A. Sanchez; Chavez, Dominguez, Piccini, Cruz; Salles-Lamonge, Sanabria, Guemez, Galdames; Boli, Phillipe
Club America possible starting lineup:
Cota; Lara, Araujo, Juarez, Calderon; Dos Santos, Naveda; Zendejas, Fidalgo, Dilrosun; Martin
We say: Atletico San Luis 1-2 Club America
Club America go into this fixture as strong favourites, buoyed by both their recent win over Tigres and their historical dominance against Atletico San Luis. The visitors are likely to continue their dominance away at San Luis, having only lost there in 2019.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
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