Club América complete comeback, edge Tigres to book place in Liga MX Semifinals

Three first half goals helped Club América to a nervy 4-2 win at Tigres to advance to the Semifinals of the 2019 Liga MX Apertura.

Tigres had won the First Leg 2-1 which meant Las Águilas came in needing to score at least twice to go through.

It didn’t take long for Miguel Herrera’s men to jump in front when in the 21st minute a set-piece down the middle finished with Uruguayan youngster Federico Viñas scoring the go-ahead goal.

Set-pieces was the name of the game for las Águilas, and ten minutes later, they took advantage once again, with Guido Rodriguez finding himself alone following a corner to double the lead for América and turn the tie on its head.

América appeared to have sealed the tie just before the interval when some sloppy defending from Carlos Salcedo, who replaced the injured Hugo Ayala midway through the first half, saw Henry Martin find Giovani dos Santos for the 4-2 aggregate lead.

But Javier Aquino pulled one back for Tigres as the 29-year-old cut América’s lead in the series to just two goals.

Tigres then missed several chances to get within one before Andre-Pierre Gignac gave Ricardo “Tuca” Ferretti’s men a lifeline with a 71st minute goal.

Pegged back and hanging on to their away goal advantage, las Águilas were relieved to be awarded a penalty after a foolish tackle inside the box from Carlos Salcedo. Emanuel Aguilera stepped and essentially sealed the tie for América with a 5-4 aggregate win.

With the result, Club América will now take on Monarcas Morelia in the Semifinals, while the other series will be between Necaxa and Monterrey.