Municipal and Guastatoya meet Sunday at Estadio El Trébol with their Clausura 2026 quarterfinal tie on the line. Municipal arrives needing only to confirm its place in the semifinals, while Guastatoya must erase a 1-0 deficit to stay alive in the Liga Nacional de Guatemala.
The return leg is scheduled for 16:30 hours and will be carried on Canal 11 of Albavisión, with minute-by-minute coverage on Claro Sports. For Municipal, the margin comes from a strong regular season that ended with 38 points, good for second place after 11 wins, 5 draws and 6 losses. It also comes in with momentum from three consecutive victories, including wins over Mixco, Marquense and Comunicaciones.
Guastatoya reached this stage from a very different place. It finished seventh with 31 points and secured permanence before entering the playoff round, a route that left it with enough to keep competing but not enough to avoid the pressure that comes with the knockout phase. That pressure deepened hours before the first leg, when Pablo Centrone resigned after an internal conflict and Luis Pedro Molina took over on an interim basis.
The first leg already added another layer of strain. Municipal won 1-0, putting Guastatoya into a must-chase position for the return. At the end of that match, José Morales was sent off after incidents between players from both teams, and Rubén Escobar was also dismissed in the same altercation. Both absences leave the tie without two players who were pulled directly into the match’s most volatile moment.
That is the edge in this game: Municipal has the better table position, the better recent form and the lead, while Guastatoya comes in needing a clean, composed response after a week marked by a coaching resignation and a first leg that spilled past the final whistle. If Municipal manages the game from here, it will move on as expected. If Guastatoya finds a way through, it will have done it against the standings, the score line and the disruption around it.