MIAMI, Florida – Roberto Moreira bagged a brace to help Motagua march past fellow Honduran side Marathon in the second leg of the 2021 Scotiabank Concacaf League quarterfinals on Tuesday night at the Estadio Nacional in Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

The result gives Motagua a 4-0 win on aggregate and a place in the 2021 SCL semifinals, which also means that Motagua have officially qualified for the 2022 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League, their first since 2020.

There were chances for both teams in the first 45 minutes, with Allans Vargas almost finding the back of the net for Marathon on a right-footed screamer in the 34’ and Motagua’s Ivan Lopez missing wide in the 38’.

Motagua came out firing to start the second half and back-to-back chances for Gonzalo Klusener and Wesly Decas almost yielded the game’s first goal in the 47’. Klusener thumped a header off the post, while Decas was unable to steer the rebound on target.

Marathon’s comeback task in the series got a lot tougher in the 66’ when Kervin Arriaga was sent off with a red card, reducing the visitors to 10 men.

There were several good looks at goal for Motagua to put the tie on ice, but Marathon GK Denovan Torres was at his usual superb best and kept things scoreless.

But Torres could only do so much and Motagua would land the final blows in the final 10 minutes.

Motagua first took a 1-0 lead in the 81’ when Marcelo Santos played in a cross that met the onrushing Moreira, who guided the ball home. 

Seven minutes later in the 88’, a Marco Tulio Vega shot deflected off Torres and fell perfectly for Moreira to push into net to complete the 2-0 scoreline.