With two goals from French striker André-Pierre Gignac, the Tigres beat the ‘Chivas’ of Guadalajara 2-1 this Saturday in a match of the sixteenth day of the Apertura-2021 tournament of Mexican football played at the University stadium.
The cats took a 1-0 lead in minute 4 with a free kick that Gignac charged with power more than 25 meters from the goal; the Frenchman placed the ball near the left post.
At 79, Edgar Dueñas reached the bottom of the court on the right side of the area, sent a delayed diagonal and Gignac appeared to sign the 2-0 with a frontal shot inside the area.
At the end of the game, Jesús Angulo filtered a pass to the area to Uriel Antuna who defined the 2-1 by tapping the ball before the goal of Argentine Nahuel Guzmán.
With this result, the Tigres were placed in third position with 25 points and the ‘Chivas’ remained in 12th place with 19 units still in the play-off zone.
Earlier at La Corregidora Stadium, Santos beat Querétaro 3-2 with a spectacular goal from Chilean Diego Valdés near the end.
Santos’ ‘Warriors’ took a 1-0 lead at minute 4 with a shot that Ecuadorian Ayrton Preciado took from the left peak of the area and placed in the upper right corner.
Preciado also made it 2-0 at 28 with a shot inside the area from the Chilean Valdés.
The reaction of the ‘Gallos Blancos’ began at 55 when the American Bryan Olivera got the 2-1 with a low shot from the edge of the area through the center.
The 2-2 was the work of the Uruguayan Jonathan dos Santos with a penalty shot to the left of the goalkeeper who was launched to the opposite side, at 61.
At 87, Santos had a free kick in favor and Valdés made it 3-2 that placed him almost in the upper right corner.
With this result, Santos remained in the fight to qualify for the playoffs by reaching 20 points; Querétaro was eliminated by keeping 15 units.
In the Hidalgo stadium, the ‘Tuzos’ of Pachuca rescued the 1-1 draw against the Pumas of the National University.
Ecuadorian Washington Corozo, at minute 28 with a cross shot inside the area, scored the goal for the Pumas. Colombian Yairo Moreno scored for Pachuca at 88 with a penalty.
With this tie, the ‘Tuzos’ reached 17 points and the cats 18 units; both teams are outside the repechage zone.
The day began on Thursday at the Jalisco stadium with a surprise 2-0 victory for bottom-player Tijuana over Atlas, who could not yet secure direct qualification to the league.
On Friday at the Benito Juárez Olympic Stadium, Puebla increased their chances of reaching the playoffs with their 2-0 victory over the Juárez Braves who were on the brink of elimination.
Necaxa also set foot in the play-off zone with their 2-1 victory over the hour against Mazatlán at the Victoria Stadium. (AFP)
–Results of the day
-Thursday
Atlas-Tijuana 0-2
-Friday
Necaxa-Mazatlan 2-1
Juárez-Puebla 2-0
-Saturday
Queretaro-Santos 2-3
Pachuca-Pumas 1-1
Tigres-Guadalajara 2-1
-Sunday
Toluca-Leon
Cruz Azul-America
Atlético San Luis-Monterrey