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Mexico legend Andrés Guardado announced his retirement from professional soccer and will likely play his last match with fringe Liga MX playoff contenders León this Sunday.
Guardado, 38, had already announced his retirement from the national team in May, and unless his club side defy the odds and sneak into the Liga MX playoffs, the all-time caps leader for Mexico will say goodbye in his upcoming away match against Monterrey.
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"I wanted to make public my decision to leave soccer at the end of this season and to stop being a professional player after 19 years," said the veteran midfielder on a social media post on Wednesday. "[I want to] thank [club president] Jesus Martinez, who gave me the opportunity to retire in Mexico. I know that things didn't turn out the way we wanted, but I'm proud to belong to this institution."
Despite the addition of the Mexican icon earlier this year, León failed to qualify for the 2024 Clausura playoffs and are on the cusp of doing so again in the current Apertura tournament. If León is able to get into the postseason, Guardado would then take part in the playoffs that begin on Nov. 20.
"We are still with a slight hope of playing in the Play-In, let's hope it happens, but if it doesn't Sunday will be my last game as a professional," he added. "I leave grateful and very proud of everything I was able to achieve, of having fulfilled my dream."
During last month's 2-0 win over the United States, Guardado was given a farewell match for El Tri in his hometown. Guardado is one of just eight players that have been called-up to five World Cups.
At the club level and after debuting with boyhood Liga MX side Atlas in 2005, the pacey playmaker made a name for himself through a long European stint that began in 2007.
"[I want to] thank Atlas that developed me, that gave me the opportunity to play soccer and to each of the teams I belonged to. To Deportivo de la Coruña, to Valencia, to Bayer Leverkusen, to PSV, to Betis," said Guardado.
With León in 2024, the midfielder earned 24 appearances and scored once for the Liga MX side. During his time with Mexico, Guardado scored 28 international goals across 181 games and clinched three Gold Cup titles in 2011, 2015 and 2019. In 2015, he was given the tournament's Golden Ball award.
He helped Betis win the Copa del Rey in 2022 and was part of the PSV side which won back-to-back Dutch titles from 2014-2016.
Source: espn.co.uk