Match recap: Santos Laguna 1, Tigres UANL 1

Santos will feel like they should have had a win but settled for a tie, drawing Tigres 1-1 at TSM Corona in Torreón. Brian Lozano put Santos up early in the second half, but a late goal from Carlos Salcedo saw the win slip away from Santos.

Santos took the game to Tigres from the opening whistle, stealing the ball early and getting Brian Lozano a tough angle shot but Nahuel Guzmán easily stopped it. Play stopped for a bit in the fourth minute with Félix Torres taking a bump in the stomach from André-Pierre Gignac. Torres was able to come off under his own power and return shortly after. Santos had another good chance in the 21st minute when Ayrton Preciado was able to go up and over Luis “Chaka” Rodríguez and get his head onto a cross floated into the box, but it went wide of the net.

Tigres had their first good chance in the 25th when Chaka found Florian Thauvin in the box. Thauvin’s initial attempt at a chilena missed, but the rebound off of a defender fell back to him. Thauvin drove to the right but quickly ran out of room, and his resulting tight-angle shot was easily stopped by Carlos Acevedo. At the other end, Preciado had another shot, but he was well under pressure and Nahuel Guzmán easily stopped it. Neither team had many chances, with play being consigned mostly to the middle third of pitch. Tigres did get another decent look in the 40th minute when an André-Pierre Gignac header in the box floated just over the crossbar. They had another good look in stoppage time of the half when Santos couldn’t quite clear the ball out of the area and Carlos González was able to hit a blast from distance, but Carlos Acevedo read it the entire way and was able to clutch the ball to his chest.

Santos came out looking dangerous in the second half and were able to take the lead in the 49th minute when a give and go between Brian “Huevo” Lozano and Fernando Gorriarán wound up with Lozano taking a crack from long range that Guzmán couldn’t stop to give the hosts the advantage.

A minute later Dória had a crack from distance, but Guzmán stopped it rather easily. On his clearance attempt, he hit Fernando Gorriarán and the ball went into the back of the net. “Gorri” was not credited with the goal, instead picking up his first yellow card of the season. In the 65th minute it looked like Tigres had scored when Gignac hit a cross off of the post and then headed it in, but linesperson Enedina Gómez correctly ruled Gignac offside and the goal was nullified.

Acevedo looked to take a knock in the 75th minute, but after being checked out by the trainers he was able to continue. Santos did well to keep Tigres at bay, keeping enough pressure on the visitors to keep them honest while being able to keep enough players behind the play to prevent the counterattack. But they couldn’t keep them off the board. IN the third minute of stoppage, Carlos Salcedo hit a shot that hit off of Roni Prieto, catching Acevedo going the wrong way for the equalizer.

Santos will head to Toluca for a match on Sunday, January 16 while Tigres returns home to Monterrey to host Puebla on Saturday, January 15.

Santos Laguna: Carlos Acevedo; Omar Campos, Félix Torres, Matheus Dória, Carlos Orrantia; Brian Lozano (Roni Prieto, 84’), Alan Cervantes, Fernando Gorriarán, Juan Ferney Otero; Ignacio Jeraldino (Eduardo Aguirre, 63’), Ayrton Preciado (David Andrade, 74’)

Tigres UANL: Nahuel Guzmán; Carlos Salcedo, Juan Sánchez (Rafael Carioca, 59’), Jesús Angulo, Luis Rodríguez; Juan Pablo Vigon, Guido Pizarro, Florian Thauvin (Aldo Cruz, 89’); Sebastián Córdova, Carlos González, André-Pierre Gignac

Scoring: Santos Laguna - Brian Lozano (49’); Tigres UANL - Carlos Salcedo (90+2’)

Disciplinary: Santos Laguna - Juan Ferney Otero (Yellow - 37’), Fernando Gorriarán (Yellow - 52’); Tigres UANL - Guido Pizarro (Yellow - 28’), Jesús Angulo (Yellow - 61’), Carlos Salcedo (Yellow - 90+3’)