Two contenders face off in the Sportsbook round of the 2018 Apertura Liguilla when Tigres UANL plays host to Pumas UNAM in the first leg of their Liga MX quarterfinals clash on Thursday.
Games in the first round don’t get any better than this. After beating Chivas 1-0 in their last regular-season game, Tigres arrives to this match having finished sixth in the Liga MX standings. Against Pumas UNAM, they’ll be facing the third-seeded team in the tournament and one of the surprise packages of this 2018 Liga MX Apertura. Pumas comes into this game on the back of a 1-1 draw with Santos Laguna and has just one defeat in its last 11 Liga MX matches.
- Pumas UNAM has gone six straight games unbeaten away from home.
- Tigres UANL has just one defeat in its last 12 Liga MX matches.
- The OVER has hit in four of Tigres UANL’s last six Liga MX matches.
Tigres UANL vs Pumas UNAM Game Center
Tigres owns Pumas in the Liguilla
The Liga MX Liguilla can prove to be as unpredictable as the weather. However, in terms of the matchup that’s in front of us, Tigres has been able to get the best of Pumas in recent Liguillas. Both of these sides met as recently as two years ago in the 2016 Liga MX Apertura quarterfinals, where Tigres earned a dominating 7-2 aggregate victory over Pumas.
Before that, they also met in the 2015 Liga MX Apertura final. That series was also won by Tigres, though this time the second leg went all the way to penalties.
Tigres’ dominance over Pumas is not just limited to the Liguilla. In total, Ricardo “Tuca” Ferretti’s side has lost just once in their last eight meetings vs the Mexico City side.
Pumas plays its best away from home
The one important factor for Pumas heading into this match is that it finished the regular season above Tigres in the Liga MX standings. This means the return leg will be played at UNAM’s home ground, the Estadio Olimpico Universitario. For Pumas, this is an excellent opportunity to at least grab an away goal and go into the second leg at home with some sort of advantage.
Pumas backers will be glad to know that they finished the regular season with the best record of any team when playing away from home. In eight games Pumas played outside the Estadio Olimpico Universitario, they won six, drew two and lost just once. Furthermore, they’ve scored in five of their last six Liga MX matches as the visiting team.
Both teams enter playoffs with strong offenses
Continuing with the topic of goals, there will be no shortage of firepower when these teams meet on Thursday night. For starters, Tigres boasts the Liga MX’s Golden Boot Sportsbook in Andre-Pierre Gignac, who tallied a total of 14 goals across 16 regular-season matches. Gignac helped Tigres finish as the second-best offense, only behind Club America, with 32 goals.
Pumas, on the other hand, was the third-best offense in the league. The team from Mexico City did a wonderful job ranking among the most clinical sides in Mexico, even after losing star striker Nico Castillo during the summer transfer window.
In summary, we can expect at least a couple of goals in Monterrey. In fact, five of the last seven games between Tigres and Pumas have finished in the OVER, with an average of 3.5 goals per game.
My pick...
Coincidentally, both of these teams met in a friendly two weeks ago during the international break. Tigres ended up winning that match 2-0, and I’d expect a similar result this time around. The only difference is this match is almost destined to hit the OVER, as both teams have their reasons to go into the second leg with the lead.
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