Gorriarán stunner sends Tigres into CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinals

Tigres delivered another magical night, thrashing FC Cincinnati 5-1 to overturn a three-goal deficit and advance to the CONCACAF Champions Cup quarterfinals.

The task was far from simple, but from the opening whistle the Liga MX side set the tone, cutting into the deficit within 10 minutes with two early goals that flipped the momentum.

Fast start for Tigres

Rodrigo Aguirre opened the scoring in the fifth minute, finishing off a well-worked move by Jesús Garza and immediately putting the visitors under pressure. Moments later, Ozziel Herrera made it 2-0 in the 10th minute with a left-footed strike that sent the Estadio Universitario crowd into a frenzy, trimming the aggregate gap to just one goal.

Despite continued pressure, the tempo dipped slightly before halftime. Herrera came close again late in the half, but Cincinnati goalkeeper Roman Celentano got a hand to his effort to deny a third.

The second half followed the same script, with Guido Pizarro’s side completing a stunning turnaround, again with Aguirre at the center of it. Herrera struck first, scoring from distance just seconds after the restart to make it 3-0 and send the tie into extra time on aggregate.

But Aguirre, nicknamed “El Búfalo,” delivered the decisive blow moments later with a spectacular acrobatic finish inside the box, ripping into the net to make it 4-0 and put Tigres in control of the series.

Cincinnati score to add late drama

Cincinnati, known as the Orange and Blue, refused to fold and needed only one moment to add late drama. From a set piece, Kevin Denkey pulled one back in the 65th minute with a powerful header, capitalizing on poor marking to grab a crucial away goal and make it 4-1.

The goal did little to slow Tigres. They continued to push forward, and Herrera nearly added a fifth in the 75th minute, only to be denied by the post from close range.

Fernando Gorriarán’s introduction proved decisive. The Uruguayan sealed the result deep into stoppage time, scoring in the 99th minute to make it 5-1 and send Tigres through to the next round, where they will face the Seattle Sounders.

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Tigres

• 1 Guzmán
• 27 Jesús Angulo
• 32 Vladimir Loroña (77')
• 28 Joaquim
• 14 Jesús Garza (86')
• 77 Jonathan Herrera x2 (77')
• 11 Juan Brunetta (93')
• 5 César Araújo (86')
• 16 Diego Lainez
• 7 Correa
• 17 Aguirre x2
• Substitutes
• 10 Gignac (77')
• 30 Diego Sánchez (86')
• 204 Henrique Simeone
• 25 Carlos Rodriguez
• 33 Rafael Guerrero
• 20 Marcelo Flores (86')
• 19 Edgar Lopez (93')
• 8 Fernando Gorriaran (77')
• 6 Juan Vigon
• 4 Juan Sánchez
• 35 Osvaldo Rodríguez
• 13 Antonio Carrera

FC Cincinnati

• 18 Roman Celentano
• 15 Teenage Hadebe (45')
• 12 Miles Robinson
• 3 Gilberto Flores (61')
• 66 Ender Echenique (45')
• 20 Pavel Bucha
• 10 Evander Ferreira (86')
• 29 Bryan Ramírez
• 11 Samuel Gidi
• 9 Ahoueke Denkey
• 16 Tom Barlow (77')
• Substitutes
• 24 Kyle Smith
• 5 Obinna Nwobodo (61')
• 93 Fabian Mrozek
• 88 Andrei Chirila
• 27 Brian Anunga (77')
• 2 Alvas Powell (45')
• 4 Nick Hagglund (86')
• 13 Evan Louro
• 99 Ayoub Jabbari
• 37 Stiven Jimenez
• 22 Gerardo Valenzuela
• 21 Matt Miazga (45')

Substitutions

Alvas Powell (45', Ender Echenique), Matt Miazga (45', Teenage Hadebe), Obinna Nwobodo (61', Gilberto Flores), Fernando Gorriarán (77', Vladimir Loroña), André-Pierre Gignac (77', Ozziel Herrera), Tah Brian Anunga (77', Tom Barlow), Nick Hagglund (86', Evander), Marcelo Flores (86', Jesús Garza), Diego Sánchez (86', César Araújo), Iván López (93', Juan Brunetta)

Goals

1-0, 4': Aguirre, 2-0, 9': Jonathan Herrera, 3-0, 45': Jonathan Herrera, 4-0, 48': Aguirre, 4-1, 64': Ahoueke Denkey, 5-1, 97': Fernando Gorriaran

Cards

Referee: Mario Escobar
VAR Referee: Diego Ojer, Dilia Bradley
Correa (14',Yellow), Gilberto Flores (19',Yellow), Guzmán (23',Yellow), Teenage Hadebe (24',Yellow), César Araújo (60',Yellow), Matt Miazga (63',Yellow), Brian Anunga (85',Yellow), Fernando Gorriaran (99',Yellow), Edgar Lopez (100',Yellow)