Rayados fight back to beat LAFC and make the Leagues Cup semi-final

The Liga MX remains alive in the Leagues Cup. Rayados remained true to their promise and flew the flag for Mexican football by beating Los Angeles FC to secure a place in the semi-final.

It wasn’t all plain sailing for the Cerro de la Silla-based side, who started poorly and went in at half-time trailing 2-0. It all started to go downhill for Fernando Ortiz’s side just two minutes after kick-off when Stefan Medina hacked Denis Bouanga inside the box and a penalty was signalled. Bouanga cooly converted from the spot, sending Esteban Andrada the wrong way.

An early lead that did little to ease the pressure in what turned out to be a tense and feisty first 45 minutes with Kellyn Acosta, Maximiliano Meza and Medina all going into the book. Monterrey tried desperately to get back on level terms but for all their efforts, they were caught on the break as LAFC doubled their lead on half-time. Mateusz Bogusz was at the end of a quick move and there was nothing suspect about his finish - a fine strike into the top corner. The hosts could and perhaps should have added a third late on but a mix-up between Buik, Hollingshead and new signing Mario González meant they ended up getting in each other’s way and the ball was eventually cleared.

Whatever Tano Ortiz had to say to his players in the dressing room clearly did the trick - Rayados looked a completely different side when play resumed. Meza’s fierce strike from just outside the box was acrobatically tipped over and the Albiazules finally got a breakthrough from the corner that resulted. Acosta recklessly lashed out trying to clear and in doing so, made contact with sub Ávila Vega. After a VAR review, a penalty was given. Sergio Canales, whose spot-kick had got Rayados through their Round of 16 tie against Tigres, picked the same spot to make it 2-1.

Andrada kept the visitors alive, making a couple of key blocks from the best of LAFC’s chances in the second half. With 10 minutes remaining, Monterrey were back level. Sergi Palencia, tightly marking Víctor Guzmán from a corner set-piece, inadvertently bundled the ball into his own net as he tracked back.

Bouanga saw his low effort superbly turned around by Andrada as both teams went in search of a winner. It arrived on 88 minutes - McCarthy was at full stretch to parry Jordi Cortizo’s goal-bound strike but the ball landed straight into the path of Rogelio Funes Mori to rifle home to make it 2-3.

Monterrey advance to the semi-finals as the only Liga MX team left in the tournament. They will battle it out with Nashville for a place in the final at GEODIS Park on Tuesday.