A decade since Tigres last beat Toluca by four goals

Until last night, it had been over 10 years since the UANL Tigers had last beaten Toluca by four goals or more. The latest precedent establishes that the Tigres beat the Red Devils by exactly the same score, 1-4, at the Nemesio Diez stadium in the Week 6 fixture of the Clausura 2013 tournament.

The scoreline might have been the same, but in terms of the importance of the result, Thursday’s was very different - it will decide who passes to the semi-finals of the Clausura 2023. On the flip side, the season will be over for the losers when the two teams meet against for the return leg on Sunday.

With a home advantage, there is nothing to say that Toluca won’t be able to score three goals and turn the tie around. a 3-0 win at the Nemesio Diez would bring the aggregate score to 4-4. If both teams remain tied after 90 minutes, the game will go to extra time with two halves of 15 minutes. Should the score still be level, the tie will be decided by a penalty shootout.

As things stand, Robert Dante Siboldi’s Tigres have a strong advantage over Ignacio Ambriz’s men.

During the past decade, the Tigres have managed to beat Toluca a total of nine times, but never by more than three goals.

The last time, we saw such a scoreline between these two clubs was in February 2013. Juninho gave Tigres the lead just after the half hour, then Lucas Lobos doubled it from the penalty spot at the start of the second half. Edgar Dueñas gave Toluca hopes of a turnaround by pulling a goal back on 78 minutes but late goals from Luis García and Emanuel Villa gave the visitors a memorable win.

In Thursday’s clash at Estadio Universitario the scorers were: Sebastián Córdova, André Pierre Gignac, Juan Pablo Vigón and Nicolás López, with Argentinian Leo Fernández grabbing the opener for Toluca. Now the Tigres find themselves in a commanding position to advance to the semi-finals of the Clausura 2023.