By Jonny Rico
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Round one of the 2017 Clausura season Liga MX Final is in the books. Chivas Guadalajara and Tigres UANL played to a 2-2 draw on Thursday evening at Estadio Universitario (aka ‘El Volcan’). Chivas squandered a two goal lead and allowed Tigres to catch up in the score, leaving everything to be settled during the return leg on Sunday evening (4:00 PM pacific / 7:00 PM eastern).
Alan Pulido and Rodolfo Pizaro had given Chivas a 2-0 lead in the first half taking advantage of a pair of goalkeeping mistakes. But French striker Andre Pierre-Gignac tied the game for Tigres with a brace to keep Tigres’ unbeaten run in tact.
The home side Tigres came out pressuring from the opening whistle. Chivas looked weak during the opening minutes and needed big saves from its goalkeeper Rodolfo Cota. But as the minutes passed along, Chivas was able to get a hold of the ball and ease the pressure that Tigres were pouring on.
Tigres goalkeeper Nahuel Guzman opened the way for Chivas to get the scoring started. Guzman tried to come off his line to punch the ball away during a Chivas corner kick. But the punch was very weak and it bounced off a teammate in the middle of the box. Former Tigres youth product Alan Pulido was there ready to take advantage and give Chivas the lead.
Guzman once again had a poor punch on the ball on a Pulido shot after a speedy counter attack. The rebound was left in the middle of the box where Rodolfo Pizarro was ready to pounce and double the lead for Chivas.
Tigres made a strong push forward with all of its powerful arsenal during the second half looking to cut down the deficit.
Chivas looked to be containing the Tigres attacks and every so often would break forward with counter attacks. But the reigning champions kept pushing forward. Second half substitutes Jurgen Damm and Damian Alvarez brought new life to Tigres with dangerous plays down each wing. It was an Alvarez cross that found Gignac in the middle of the box to get Tigres on the board.
Gignac would then score a spectacular goal from an extremely tight angle on the right wing to tie the game.
The Liga MX title will now be decided at Estadio Chivas on Sunday evening. Chivas will look to win its record-ting 12th league title by winning its first game in the past 10 matches. Tigres will look to become only the third team to win back-to-back titles since Liga MX went to short semester-long tournaments with a win on Sunday.
