The Apertura 2019 playoffs continue this weekend with the second legs of the quarterfinals.
The quarterfinals are two-legged, aggregate-goal series; away goals are tiebreakers. If both the aggregate and the away goals are tied at the end of the second leg, the higher seed will advance.
The first leg results were:
Monarcas Morelia 3-3 León
Necaxa 3-0 Querétaro
Monterrey 5-2 Santos Laguna
América 1-2 Tigres UANL
América took the lead but couldn’t hold it as Tigres UANL came back for a 1-2 away win in the first leg of their quarterfinal series.
América seemed a little disjointed at the start; although they had more possession, they were unable to do much with it. Guido Rodríguez and Richard Sánchez seemed out of sync in midfield, which led to difficulty linking up with the attack.
Monterrey took a commanding lead in their quarterfinal series with a 5-2 victory against the superlíder, Santos Laguna.
The game started off perfectly for the hosts, who took the lead just 1 minute 26 seconds after kickoff. Dorlan Pabón put the Rayados in front with a shot from outside the box into the upper corner, putting Santos Laguna in an immediate hole.
Necaxa took a commanding lead in the first leg of this quarterfinal series with a 3-0 victory against Querétaro.
The game started off a little slowly, with a good deal of play taking place in midfield. Neither team was able to take firm control, and while they both created a few chances, none of them were particularly dangerous.
In the first leg of their Apertura 2019 quarterfinal series, León took the lead three times but ultimately couldn’t hold it as Monarcas Morelia scored deep into stoppage time to tie the game 3-3.
The game was full of controversy from start to finish. In just the 4th minute, referee José Antonio Peñaloza turned to VAR after José Juan Macías was brought down in the box, ultimately awarding León a penalty kick. Macías stepped up to take the penalty himself, and he converted it to give the visitors the 0-1 lead in the 7th minute.
The Apertura 2019 playoffs get underway this week with the first legs of the quarterfinals.
The quarterfinals are two-legged, aggregate-goal series; away goals are tiebreakers. If both the aggregate and the away goals are tied at the end of the second leg, the higher seed will advance.
The first legs are hosted by the lower seeds and will be played on Wednesday and Thursday.
The Apertura 2019 season has wrapped up and the playoffs are set, with the top eight teams advancing to the quarterfinals.
The quarterfinals are two-legged, aggregate-goal series; away goals are tiebreakers. If both the aggregate and the away goals are tied at the end of the second leg, the higher seed will advance.
The quarterfinal pairings are as follows:
Santos Laguna (1) vs Monterrey (8)
León (2) vs Monarcas Morelia (7)
Tigres UANL (3) vs América (6)
Querétaro (4) vs Necaxa (5)
The Clausura 2019 champion will be determined this week as León and Tigres UANL face off in the Gran Final.
Top seed León is making their 13th appearance in the final and is seeking their 8th title; their most recent championship came in the Clausura 2014 season. Second-seeded Tigres UANL is making their 12th appearance in the final and is looking for their 7th title; they won most recently in the Apertura 2017 season.
The semifinals have wrapped up and the top two seeds have advanced and will now face off for the Clausura 2019 Liga MX title.
Top seed León split their semifinal series with América, winning the first leg 0-1 and losing the second by the same scoreline. With the aggregate and away goals both level, León advanced as the higher seed.
It was the same story in the other semifinal, where rivals Tigres UANL and Monterrey each won their home leg 1-0; with the aggregate level and away goals not a factor, Tigres advanced as the higher seed.
Tigres UANL booked their spot in the Clausura 2019 Gran Final with a 1-0 win against Monterrey in the second leg of this Clásico Regio semifinal series. With the aggregate tied 1-1 and away goals not a factor, the universitarios advanced due to the higher seed tiebreaker.
The onus was on Tigres in this one after Monterrey’s victory in the first leg, and they looked to make their home field advantage count in the partisan atmosphere of El Volcán. The hosts controlled possession for the majority of the first half, although there weren’t too many truly dangerous chances.
