Necaxa hold off Querétaro comeback; advancing to the Apertura semifinals

Necaxa defeats Querétaro 3-2 in the teams’ second leg match at Estadio Corregidora to book their ticket to the Apertura semifinals. After winning 3-0 in the first leg, Necaxa scored another three goals late in the second half to stomp Querétaro’s hopes of a miraculous comeback. Two goals in the first half from Querétaro put doubt in the minds of the Necaxa players, but not enough to rescue their season as Los Gallos Blancos crash out of la Liguilla. 

Coming into the game, Querétaro knew it would be a tall order for them to advance. The home side needed three goals to tie the aggregate and all while not letting Necaxa score. Querétaro seemed up for the challenge early on and looked like a different side compared to the first leg as they put Necaxa under massive pressure not letting the ball leave the visitors half. 

Soon Querétaro opened the scoring in the 4th minute of action as Marcel Ruiz headed the home side into the lead. A dangerous cross from Ayron Del Valle put the ball on a platter for Ruiz and he did the rest. 1-0 to Los Gallos Blancos. 

Not too long after, in the 17th minute, Querétaro would make it 2-0. Jeison Lucumí pounced on a defensive error from Necaxa and ferociously headed the ball past the keeper. The comeback was on and Necaxa had no answers. 

Querétaro pushed for their third goal, but Necaxa would hold firm. A clumsy tackle from Luis Romo in the 45’+3 would put Querétaro down a man after a closer review from VAR. The home side ended the half up two goals but would have to complete the comeback with only 10 men in the second half. 

Necaxa would have different plans in the second half, however. Los Rayos nearly scored on several different occasions in a ten-minute span. They would force 2 acrobatic saves from the Querétaro keeper to maintain the 2 goal lead and even hit the bar twice. 

Following a corner kick after Gil Alcala’s heroics, Necaxa would finally score in the 79th minute and essentially put the aggregate away.  Cristian Calderón headed the ball into the far corner and made it 2-1. Querétaro now needed 3 more goals to advance. 

Necaxa would go on and tie the game 2-2 in the 86th minute. Luis Felipe Gallegos would smash the ball into the top corner after Jesús Angulo laid it off to him in the box. It was 2-2 and now there was no way back for Los Gallos Blancos. 

To add insult to injury, Necaxa added a third goal in the 90th minute. Maximiliano Salas made it 3-2 with a long-range rocket. The aggregate ballooned to 6-2 as Los Rayos were through to the semifinals. 

Necaxa now awaits on the results of Sunday’s fixtures to see who they will face in the semifinals this Apertura Liguilla campaign.