Pachuca's Franco Jara (white/blue) shoots against visiting Tigres in a Liga MX Clausura match on February 11, 2017. (Photo: Victor Straffon/Straffon Images)
PACHUCA, Mexico – You could forgive Pachuca forward Franco Jara if he wanted to look ahead to next Tuesday’s Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League quarterfinal, first-leg encounter at Saprissa.
After two UEFA Champions League campaigns earlier this decade with Portugal’s Benfica, the 28-year-old Argentine has enjoyed his first SCCL foray, scoring two goals and registering a team-best three assists in only two matches.
Jara, who scored the game-winning goal in a 1-0 win over Tigres on February 11, is wisely taking a ‘one game at a time’ approach. He says that before third-place Pachuca (3W-2D-1L, 11 points) can think about Tuesday’s big date with the Monstruo Morado, it must first focus on Saturday’s domestic clash at unbeaten Monterrey (2-4-0, 10).
“We should keep working and look to finish off everything we have,” Jara remarked. “Against Tigres, we had a lot of chances where we could have finished and we didn’t do it.”
It will be the first meeting between Pachuca and Monterrey at the Estadio BBVA Bancomer since May 29, 2016, when they squared off in the second leg of the 2016 Liga MX Clausura final. Victor Guzman’s goal in the third minute of second-half stoppage time gave the Tuzos a 1-1 draw and a 2-1 aggregate triumph to claim the title.
“The memory remaining of that field is something very nice, but today there are other situations,” finished Jara. “We have to play in another manner and bring home the three points.”
