MONTERREY, Nuevo Leon – Tigres U.A.N.L. took a giant step forward in their quest to win the Liga MX championship with a 3-0 thrashing of Pumas U.N.A.M. in Leg One on Thursday at the Estadio Universitario.
Andre-Pierre Gignac, Javier Aquino and Rafael Sobis all scored for Ricardo Ferretti's club as the home team dominated the first leg of the two-match final. Pumas will now need to score at least three goals on Sunday, and keep a clean sheet against Tigres when they return to Estadio Olimpico for the final leg.
Pumas has one of the top defenses in the Mexican league, but were no match for Tigres' offensive attack on Thursday. Things started terribly for the visitors when Javier Cortes was whistled for a foul in the box on Rafael Sobis in the 15th minute.
Gignac stepped up and converted the penalty, igniting the Monterrey crowd and starting a scoring stretch that would only snowball from there.
Fourteen minutes later, two Mexican national team stars connected on the game's second goal. 23-year-old soccer star Jurgen Damm sent a cross into El Tri teammate Javier Aquino who blasted a shot from the left of the box into the top right corner of the net for the golazo.
Tigres would take the 2-0 lead into halftime, but piled on in the second half as Sobis teed off from the center of the box for the game's third and final goal in the 60th minute.
As expected, Tigres dominated possession 62 percent to 38 percent, and were aggressive on offense attempting 20 shots to Pumas' five.
Leg 2 will kick off on Sunday, December 13, at 9:30 PM EST from Olimpico Universitario Stadium on U.N.A.M. campus in Mexico City.
© 2024 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.