Tigres (pictured) celebrates after earning the Liga MX Apertura title by overcoming visiting Club America on penalty kicks on December 25, 2016, in San Nicolas de los Garza. (Photo: Tomas Palacios/Straffon Images)
SAN NICOLAS DE LOS GARZA, Mexico – Tigres prevailed over Club America, 3-0 on penalty kicks, to capture the 2016 Liga MX Apertura title, following a 1-1 draw after extra time on Sunday in the second leg of a series that finished 2-2 on aggregate.
It was UANL’s fifth domestic crown, but the first time it overcame Club America in their last three final meetings. In their previous two meetings in a decider, Club America triumphed in the 2014 Liga MX Apertura (agg: 3-1) and the 2015/16 SCCL (agg: 4-1).
In the penalty shootout, Tigres converted each of its attempts through Andre-Pierre Gignac, Anselmo Vendrechovski “Juninho” and Guido Pizarro, while goalkeeper Nahuel Guzman saved efforts from the trio of William Da Silva, Silvio Romero and Javier Guemez.
A scoreless opening 90 minutes gave way to a pair of extra-time goals.
Club America went up 1-0 in the 95th minute, when Pablo Aguilar back-headed Michael Arroyo’s left-sided corner kick to the top of the six-yard box, where Edson Alvarez was positioned to head past Guzman.
In the 119th minute, Tigres leveled through an unmarked Jesus Dueñas, who headed home from 11-yards out off Jurgen Damm’s cross from the right edge of the box.
By reaching the Apertura final, both Tigres and Club America qualified for the 2017/18 Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League.
