UANL Tigers travel with good spirits to face River Plate in Copa Libertadores final

The UANL Tigers traveled to Buenos Aires on Sunday night in great spirits, where they will face River Plate in the Copa Libertadores final on Wednesday.

After an emotional farewell from hundreds of fans at the airport, the players took photos and posted joyful messages on social media, confident in their quest for victory on Wednesday.

"On the plane headed to Argentina with the Tiger squad to prepare for the grand final, vamos Tigres," tweeted Uruguayan midfielder Egidio Arévalo, who played for his country in the previous World Cup and is one of the possible starters in the final match.

Tigres drew 0-0 at home last Wednesday and although they will now face River at their stadium with everything against them, coach Ricardo Ferretti has insisted that his team will not give up and will come out to challenge the Argentinians.

Ferretti's felines will arrive in the Argentine capital tomorrow and in the afternoon they will have their first training session at the Boca Juniors' stadium, River's archrival. On Tuesday, the Mexicans will have a light practice in the same venue, and on Wednesday they will play the match.

Although Ferretti has not disclosed his lineup, it is likely that Nahuel Guzmán; Israel Jiménez, Juninho, José Rivas, Jorge Torres; Jurgen Damm, Egidio Arévalo, Guido Pizarro, Damián Álvarez; Rafael Sobis and André Pierre Gignac will play.

In the group stage, the Tigers drew 1-1 at River Plate's home stadium, and now the team will try to have a well-organized defense and from there look for goals, or worst-case scenario, force a draw and decide the match in a penalty shootout.

Mexico, which has participated in the Libertadores since 1999, has reached the final twice before, in 2001 when Cruz Azul lost in penalties to Boca Juniors, and in 2010 when Guadalajara Chivas were defeated by Brazilian Internacional from Porto Alegre.