Former foes Santos Laguna, CF Montreal renew acquaintances

MIAMI, Florida – Two teams that produced one of the most thrilling Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League series in history will renew acquaintances on Tuesday night, as Santos Laguna of Liga MX take on Canadian Championship winners CF Montreal in the Round of 16 first leg at the Estadio Corona in Torreon, Mexico.

It was the inaugural edition of the SCCL in 2008-09 when these two clubs met in the quarterfinal stage, with Santos scoring two goals in second half stoppage time of the second leg to rescue a 5-4 aggregate win.

Now, 13 years later, the teams will return to the site of that dramatic contest in hopes of beginning the journey to the SCCL Final.

Santos have endured a frustrating start to their 2022 Liga MX Clausura campaign, with just one point through five games, but the SCCL offers a chance to turn things around.

The weapons are certainly there in the form of MF Brian Lozano and MF Leonardo Suarez. Lozano had two goals in five games during the 2019 SCCL, while Suarez was part of the Club America team that reached the 2021 SCCL Final, scoring a goal in four games.

History will also favor Santos going into Tuesday night’s game, as the Torreon club are unbeaten in their last 19 home games in SCCL play (16W-3D-0L) and have registered three straight wins versus Canadian clubs.

For CF Montreal, it will be their first official match of 2022, but there is ample experience with FW Romell Quioto, who has five goals in 18 career SCCL matches.

Montreal can also look to the history books for inspiration as well. In their last two matches on Mexican soil, they earned a 2-2 draw at Pachuca in the 2014-15 quarterfinal first leg and a 1-1 draw with Club America in that same season’s Final first leg.

Game Notes Club Santos CF Montreal 

Match Officials