MONTERREY, Nuevo León — Los Rayados of Monterrey were strong in the first leg of the Clausura quarterfinals and eventually broke the UANL Tigres 3-1, the current champions of Mexican soccer, who will now have to come from behind as the visiting side in Saturday’s second leg.
Playing at the Estadio Universitario, the Rayados’ goals were scored by Uruguayan Carlos Sánchez in the 16th minute, the Colombian Dorlan Pabón (38) and Rogelio Funes Mori (84); while Brazilian Rafael Sobis (19) added los Tigres’ only score.
At the start of the match, the visiting Rayados pushed for play on the counterattack and in the first minutes the home team had a couple of options on goal with Hugo Ayala, in a header, and a shot from Frenchman André-Pierre Gignac from the right side, but the goalkeeper Jonathan Orozco swerved to save his cabin.
When the house appeared more disturbed, Monterrey answered through the Colombian Edwin Cardona, who received the ball on the right side and sent a cross to where Sánchez finished off, leading 1-0 at 16 minutes.
Cardona had a chance to extend the lead but missed, then the goalkeeper Nahuel Guzmán went up the midfield but failed in his pass, which handed the ball and the shot from there, but the ball went just wide.
Tigres sought and achieved a draw in the 19th minute with a shot from average distance by Sobis, who could not pass the goalkeeper Orozco.
Both teams continued to threaten goals, but the scoreboard remained motionless.
Tigres continued in the same vein, but Monterrey lead 2-1 in the 38th minute through a backlash in which Pabón took the ball and made no mistake, pulled from outside the box to send the ball into the back of the UANL goal.
In the final stretch, the home Tigres incessantly sought to equalize the score, but Orozco had an outstanding performance on several occasions protecting his goalposts.
Monterrey put the final score up on the board at 84 minutes by Rogelio Funes Mori.