Tigres did it again. The cats rose from 3-0 against the first legto beat Xolos de Tijuana 5-0 at the University Stadium and advance to the Semifinals of Apertura 2025.
Guido Pizarro decided to unleash the offensive beast that the cats had not shown for much of the tournament and in just the first 40 minutes of play, They had already marked the three notes they needed to place themselves in the Semifinals to equal the overall score, which favored them due to their best place in the table.
After a couple of warnings from Juan Brunetta with a header over the crossbar and from Ángel Correa with a shot in the area that went into the hands of goalkeeper Antonio Rodríguez, The scoring opened at minute 15.
Nicolás Ibáñez ended the drought of 13 games without a goal, to make it 1-0 with a solid header from Jesús Garza’s center from the right, in a play where Unai Bilbao was roofed and thus bringing the U closer to 3-1 on aggregate.
André-Pierre Gignac on two occasions was about to be present, but Rodríguez prevented it at minutes 24 and 25, with interventions that saved his team.
The 2-0 came via penalty, after Correa was knocked down in the area by Domingo Blanco and Brunetta took charge of scoring the other goal in the 30th minute, to bring the Auriazules closer to 3-2 in the series.
Once again, goalkeeper Rodríguez became a factor in avoiding at least one more goal from the locals, going head-to-head with Ibáñez in the 37th minute, but was unsuccessful two minutes later, when Brunetta hit the ball with his head from a recent cross by Ibáñez, taking advantage of a cross from Correa from the left to make the match 3-0 and 3-3 overall, which at that moment already put Tigres in the Semifinals.
Given the lack of an offensive proposal from Tijuana, The game hit a slump in the second half.where the borderers were incapable of generating greater danger at the gate guarded by Nahuel Guzmán.
Pizarro decided to save Ibáñez and give play to Joaquim Pereira at 59′, after the wear and tear of the Argentine striker in the first half, where he scored a goal and assisted Brunetta for another goal, in addition to also taking out Gignac in the 64th minute.
At 65′ Lainez entered the right side of the area with the mark of Pablo Ortiz, who knocked him down so that the maximum penalty was sanctioned, but Ozziel Herrera announced his collection too much to the right of Rodríguez, who rejected the ball.
Herrera’s revenge came in the 74th minute, when Lainez once again overtook the right, sending a ball for Gorriarán to take a misplaced shot that Rodríguez saved with a hand, but the number 77 was attentive to counter finish with a header and make it 4-0 (4-3 overall), while Juan Pablo Vigon made it 5-0 (5-3 overall) that confirmed the U in the Semifinals.