The Cougars Mexican UNAM thrashed this Wednesday 4-1 at Saprissa Costa Rican to win the round of 16 series 6-3 and advance to the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions League.
In the second leg of the round of 16, Arturo Ortíz, the Brazilian José Rogério and the Argentine Juan Ignacio Dinenno scored twice for the cats. Ryan Bolaños discounted for Saprissa.
The Pumas will face the American New England Revolution in the quarterfinals, which advanced to this round due to the withdrawal of the Haitian Cavaly AS.
Saprissa went looking to come back from the series from the opening minutes of the first half. At minute 9, goalkeeper Julio González saved his goal twice by rejecting shots from Christian Bolaños and Jimmy Marín.
After that, the Pumas took over the game and went ahead on the scoreboard. In the 12th minute, Leonel López took a corner kick from the right that Ortíz, with a header, made it 1-0.
Saprissa pressed again at the start of the second half and tied at 51st when Ryan Bolaños scored the 1-1 with a volley.
Despite improving and having more depth up front, Saprissa did not increase their advantage, which allowed Dinenno to kill off the series by converting with the right hand the 2-1 at 75 and the 3-1 with a header at 82. Rogério He made it 4-1 at 90+4 by making an assist from Alan Mozo’s right.
DATA SHEET
Pumas UNAM-Saprissa 4-1
4 – Pumas UNAM: Julio Gonzalez; Alan Mozo, Arturo Ortíz, Ricardo Galindo, Jerónimo Rodríguez; Leonel López (Santiago Trigos m.79), Omar Islas, Diogo de Oliveira (Higor Meritao m.55; Sebastián Saucedo m.79); Favio Álvarez (José Caicedo m.86), Juan Ignacio Dinenno (José Rogério m.86) and Washington Corozo.
Coach: Andres Lillini
1 – Saprissa: Aaron Cruz; Gerald Taylor, Kevin Espinoza, Mariano Torres, Aubrey David, Ryan Bolaños; Jimmy Marín, Christian Bolaños, David Guzmán (Víctor Medina m.82), Marvin Angulo (Francisco Rodríguez m.70); Walter Cortes (Ariel Rodriguez m.77).
Coach: Inaki Alonso
Goals: 1-0, Arturo Ortiz (m. 12); 1-1, Ryan Bolaños (m. 51); 2-1, Juan Ignacio Dinenno (d. 75); 3-1, Juan Ignacio Dinenno (m. 82); 4-1, Jose Rogerio (d. 90+4)
Referee: Mario Escobar from Guatemala. He admonished David Guzmán, Wálter Cortés, Leonel López, Arturo Ortíz, Jerónimo Rodríguez and Favio Álvarez.
Incidents: Second leg of the round of 16 of the Concacaf Champions League played at the Olympic University Stadium in Mexico City
