- Andre-Pierre Gignac Tigres’ hero again with a well-taken brace
- Mexican giants will now face Brazil’s Palmeiras in the last four
DOHA, Qatar – Andre-Pierre Gignac scored a pair of goals to lead 2020 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League winners Tigres UANL of Mexico to a 2-1 victory over Ulsan Hyundai FC of South Korea in the second round of the 2020 FIFA Club World Cup on Thursday at the Ahmed bin Ali Stadium in Al Rayyan, Qatar.
With the victory against the 2020 Asian Football Confederations champions, Tigres have advanced to the semifinals where they will face 2020 Conmebol Copa Libertadores winner Palmeiras of Brazil on Sunday.
The two teams traded early chances before Ulsan Hyundai were able to open the scoring in the 24’ when Keehee Kim met a corner kick at the near post and turned in a header past Tigres GK Nahuel Guzman to give the Asian champions a 1-0 lead.
Tigres responded with aplomb and 2020 SCCL Golden Ball winner Gignac pulled the Liga MX side level 1-1 in the 38’. A corner kick was swung into the area and Diego Reyes expertly flicked it toward goal where Gignac met it to volley it home for the goal.
An Ulsan Hyundai handball in the area at the very end of the first half gave Tigres a penalty, and Gignac calmly converted the spot kick to hand Tigres their first lead of the night at 2-1.
The Tigres defense took over in the second half and kept the Ulsan Hyundai attack at bay by using pressure to force defensive mistakes.
The South Korean side never had a good look at goal in the second 45 minutes, as Tigres saw things out until the final whistle to punch their ticket to the next round.
