CIUDAD DE MEXICO (apro).- Santos, who played with 10 players for more than an hour, achieved the unexpected: overcoming adversity, and thanks to the 2-2 draw (4-4 on aggregate) at home , they eliminated the champion Tigres from Nuevo León, who also has the highest payroll in national football.
The most emotional part of Santos' dramatic qualification for the semifinals - where they will face America - was that the classification goal was scored by their top scorer, African Djaniny Tavares, who returned to the field injured to seal the tie in the 73rd minute, thanks to the mistake of the visitors' goalkeeper, Nahuel Guzmán.
Tigres player André Pierre Gignac reacts during the match against Santos. Photo: Xinhua / Andrea Jiménez
Tigres' goalkeeper, who could be part of his country's national team in the upcoming World Cup in Russia, released the ball after the powerful left-footed shot from outside the box by the African forward. Still, Guzmán managed to see how the ball dramatically crossed the goal line.
Injured and in pain, Tavares, who scored his 15th goal in the Clausura 2018 tournament, did not have time to celebrate. Immediately, the forward was put on the stretcher and taken to the team's dressing room.
Earlier, in the 17th minute, Oswaldo Martínez scored a great goal from a free kick that left Nahuel Guzmán motionless, to close the gap with which Tigres arrived at the TSM (2 goals on the global score).
And so, Santos, who started in offensive tasks from the initial whistle, needed a goal to achieve the objective. In fact, they were about to achieve the objective early on with approaches from Jonathan Rodríguez (in the 19th minute), with a header from Gerardo Alcoba (in the 21st minute) and another chance from Rodríguez, in the 24th minute.
However, four minutes later Jonathan Rodríguez was sent off for stamping his studs on Javier Aquino's foot.
Despite the numerical advantage, Tigres continued without reacting throughout the rest of the game, as after recovering from that emotional blow, the home team regained the initiative and control of the match.
An attempt by Ecuadorian Enner Valencia, but above all the one from their star André-Pierre Gignac, who missed a header alone in front of goalkeeper Jonathan Orozco, was the highlight of the day for Ricardo Ferreti's Tigres, whose team boasts the highest payroll in the national market: 68 million 420 thousand dollars, and also the most expensive player in Liga Mx, Ecuadorian Enner Valencia, valued at 11 million 560 thousand dollars.
