Liga MX Apertura Liguilla quarterfinal match recap: Santos Laguna 1 (3), Monterrey 1 (6)

It was a match that lived up to its billing, as the best team in the regular season and the hottest team heading into the playoffs went toe-to-toe. Santos was able to get out to an early lead, but couldn’t capitalize on the momentum and wound up with a 1-1 draw, seeing Monterrey go though 6-3 on aggregate.

Santos started out predictably applying pressure, and it was well into the second minute before the ball even left the Monterrey end of the field. Monterrey to their credit were largely able to limit the quality of the chances that Santos was getting, keeping Brian Lozano locked down for the better part of the early minutes.

Lozano would break free in the 19th minute when he got the ball at the corner of the box, took a touch, and hit an absolute rocket that froze goalkeeper Marcelo Barovero.

Santos kept the pressure up, creating several chances and keeping the visitors on their heels. Monterrey didn’t register their first shot on goal until the 39th when Jonathan Orozco stopped a laser from close range. Matheus Dória almost grabbed another as the first half slid into stoppage but his header just missed the mark.

Santos came out trying to grab another goal, but they’d get caught on a counterattack in the 57th minute. Vincent Janssen was able to finish the play and it was initially ruled offside, however VAR was consulted and ruled that the play had been onside and the goal stood.

Santos kept fighting to pull one back, but Monterrey’s defense was able to put the clamps down on Santos’ offense and yielded few quality chances down the stretch. Rayados’ opponents in the next round is still to be determined at the time of publishing.

Santos Laguna: Jonathan Orozco; Gerardo Arteaga, Matheus Dória, Félix Torres, José Abella (Emilio Orrantía, 79’); Ulíses Rívas (Octavio Rivero, 68’), Fernando Gorriarán; Eryc Castillo, Diego Valdés, Brian Lozano; Julio Furch

Monterrey: Marcelo Barovero; Leonel Vangioni, Nicolás Sánchez, César Montes, Stefan Medina; Celso Ortiz, Carlos Rodríguez; Maximiliano Meza (Miguel Layún, 46’), Jesús Gallardo, Dorlan Pabón (Rodolfo Pizarro, 70’); Vincent Janssen (Jose Maria Basanta, 88’)

Scoring: Santos Laguna - Brian Lozano (19’); Monterrey - Vincent Janssen (59’)

Disciplinary: Santos Laguna - Eryc Castillo (Yellow - 32’), Darwin Quintana (Yellow - 37’), Brian Lozano (Yellow - 79’); Monterrey - Leonel Vangioni (Yellow - 42’)