Tigres met with Honduras’ Club Olimpia in the 2020 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League semifinal. Their place in the finals was decided by two odd circumstances and a brace by Andre-Pierre Gignac.
Kicking Things off With Kicks
The match started out the rough way with an elbow to Guido Pizarro at just thirty seconds of play. referee Ivan Barton awarded no card but it was a sign of things to come. Olimpia left ball control to Tigres as they fall back and waited for the yellow squad to attack. Goalkeeper Edrick Menjivar showed good reflexes steering away early danger. The game remained extremely physical with players going down constantly with news to the back fighting for 50/50 balls.
The Honduran XI stopped anyone near their final third, nonetheless, their counter attacks proved ineffective. They found themselves outnumbered on the other half and gave up the ball quite easily. Tigres on the hand retained ball possession but moved sideways instead of forwards, they had little volume to their game.
Olimpia’s defense finally bucked on aggregate as a set of rebounds ended on a handball by Deiby Flores. Flores tried to play goalie and blocked the shot. They were now down a man and Gignac was ready to score. “AP10” converted on the PK and sent Tigres up by one to halftime.
¡Gol de @TigresOficial 🇲🇽! @10APG anota del punto penal antes del medio tiempo. #SCCL2020 pic.twitter.com/BwnOe6IgqP
— Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League (@TheChampions) December 20, 2020
Tigres Takes Advantage of Extra Man
The second set of 45 minutes kicked off at a faster pace. Olimpia was forced to go up the pitch in order to attack. That, plus being a man down created a big gap at the back and Tigres took advantage of it. Despite that, the Central American defense kept doing their job and kept the score intact. That was until they made the same mistake twice.
Another handball, although this time, less obvious, gave Tigres a chance to double the lead. Gignac was there once again to convert at the 57th minute. The climb seemed even higher for Olimpia after that and they didn’t do themselves any favors.
¡Gol de @10APG!@TigresOficial 🇲🇽 aumenta la ventaja. #SCCL2020 pic.twitter.com/DCx3C5FdOk
— Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League (@TheChampions) December 20, 2020
Edwin Oliva added one more to the tally on an own goal after a defensive miscue. Gignac himself was close to finishing the hat-trick, nonetheless, he went off the crossbar five minutes off the final whistle.
⚽️ ¡Gol!@TigresOficial 🇲🇽 vence 3-0 a @CDOlimpia 🇭🇳 al 79'. | #SCCL2020 pic.twitter.com/ZFuZ82zgpl
— Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League (@TheChampions) December 20, 2020
Goalkeepers seem to be a theme in the CCL return and this match was no different. Handballs and errors aside, Menjivar had a solid performance with a pair of cat-like saves in between the posts for Olimpia.
FINAL SCORE: Tigres 3-0 Club Olimpia
“Wasn’t Worth Anything”
Ricardo Ferretti showed his disappointment with his rivals’ performance. “I personally believe that Honduran teams, specially Olimpia, are capable of showing off much better football.” The 66-year-old manager continued by saying that “From a fan’s perspective” the game “Wasn’t worth anything”
One More Match for TIgres
Nuevo Leon has moved on to the final and will square off with MLS’ LAFC this Tuesday for the championship.
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