Tigres win their eighth Liga MX title
Guadalajara hosted Tigres in the second leg of the final of the Clausura 2023 and the visiting team were able to reverse the score after receiving two goals.
Guadalajara played with much more aggression than the first game. It was clear that they wanted to take an early advantage. Tigres also played with the intention of causing damage, which ended up in a more open game than the first leg with chances in for both sides.
The first goal of the night came at the 10’ when Piojito Alvarado left two men behind and score close to the right post, far from Nahuel Guzman’s reach. Just ten minutes later, Alexis Vega took a corner kick, and Pocho Guzman was able to move away from any defenders and found himself in front of the goal. He simply passed the ball to the net. And like that, in 20 minutes of play, it seemed that Guadalajara would win their thirteenth title.
Guadalajara began to play more defensively, and Tigres couldn’t break their defence. Due to that inability, they began to get overly desperate. A case in point came at the 35’, when after Cordova put a ball way off target during a corner kick, Luis Quinones shot the ball towards the area where Guadalajara subs and coaching staff were sitting.
Right at that point, it seemed that Tigres were too nervous and Chivas had the title in the bag. Tigres would begin to play better in the last ten minutes of the first half, routinely getting close to the rival’s box, but the half-time whistle put an end to those attacks.
Chivas let the title go
For the start of the second half, Guadalajara played more defensively and after a series of corners, Tigres would get their effort rewarded after Pollo Briseno intercepted a cross with his hand. Andre Gignac transformed the penalty into a goal with a strong shot just to the right of the centre.
Cordova had a great chance at the 69’ when he took a bicycle kick, but Guacho Guzman, who was super focused, was able to keep the ball. Just a few minutes later, after an impressive play by tigres that ended in Javier Aquino crossing the ball to Sebastian Cordova who scored with a header.
After the goal, Guadalajara was in a state of shock. They played all shell-shocked for the next few minutes until they started to attack with more clarity. Despite this, Paunovic had already taken out Vega and Cisneros, so he had no real offenders in his attack. Both teams kept trying to find the goal, Chivas going forth and Tigres in the counter attacking. The game ended to give way to extra time
Tigres flip the score
The game would continue the same, Chivas tried to go forth but had no nominal attackers. Gaucho Jimenez would make an impressive double save at the 103’, meaning that Tigres were still dangerous given all the space left by Chivas as they tried to go forth.
The game had danger for both sides until a series of rebounds in Guadalajara’s box was ultimately netted by .
Chivas kept trying to reverse the overly defensive attitude they adopted during the second half of the regular time. Their efforts would remain fruitless however, as Cesar Ramos whistled the end of the game.
An incredible feat by a veteran team of Tigres, who took advantage of the defensive approach that Veljko Paunovic adopted after the second goal, contrasting with the four attacking men that Robert Siboldi sent: Cordova, Gignac, Nico Ibanez and Diente Lopez.
Congratulations to Tigres for their eighth league title!
