Since the go, it was clear that both teams were aiming at ball control and high pressure; however, it was Chivas who took control first with long possessions although not much precision as they started giving up some passes stemmed from the good positioning from Leon.
It was Leon who got the first chance as in minute 21 Montes fired a shot that was deflected by ‘Lalo’ Torres. El Rebaño answered back in the 27th minute when Fernando Beltrán took Chivas’ first shot wide though. Then in the 30th minute, Uriel Antuna and ‘Chapito’ Sánchez linked up nicely, and the first crossed the ball into the box, but a defender deflected it.
In the minute 38, Leon opened the scoreboard as Campbell entered the box and assisted Fernando Navarro who fired from the pk spot past Gudiño.
Chivas started the second half at full throttle aware of the need for a goal and in the 50th minute, the referee awarded a penalty kick for Chivas following a harsh foul of Cota on Antuna, and ‘JJ’ cashed it nicely to tie the game. Four minutes later, Alexis Vega ran down the line and crossed a precise ball into Antuna’s feet; however, ‘El Brujo’ was not able to find the back of the net as his shot went slightly wide.
59’ Alexis with a great shot blocked by Cota though, a minute late, Montes could have given Leon the lead but ‘Lalo’ Torres pulled a timely and heavenly deflection, then in minute 85th, Miguel Ponce with a great chance but somehow Barrerio cleared the ball off the goal line and avoid Chivas’ second goal of the night.
By the dawn of the game, Raúl Gudiño pulled a miraculous saved from a very close-range shot in order to keep ‘El Chiverío’ chances alive for the second leg game to be played next Saturday 5th in Leon.
Guadalajara 1-1 León
(José Juan Macías 49’)
(Fernando Navarro 37’)
Referee: Marco Antonio Ortiz Nava
Estadio Akron
Lineups:
Guadalajara: 1 Raúl Gudiño, 17 Jesús Sánchez, 21 Hiram Mier, 3 Gilberto Sepúlveda (14 Antonio Briseño 80’), 16 Miguel Ponce, 56 Eduardo Torres, 5 Jesús Molina, 20 Fernando Beltrán (7 Alexis Vega 45’), 26 Cristian Calderón (55 Luis Olivas 90’+2’), 15 Uriel Antuna (19 Jesús Angulo 77’) and 24 Oribe Peralta (9 José Juan Macías 45’).
Coach. Víctor Manuel Vucetich.
León: 30 Rodolfo Cota, 5 Fernando Navarro, 21 Jaine Berreiro, 4 Andrés Mosquera (YC 81’), 6 William Tesillo (YC 53’), 18 Pedro Aquino, 10 Luis Montes (YC 56’), 12 Joel Campbell, 16 Jean Meneses, 13 Ángel Mena and 20 Emmanuel Gigliotti (19 Nicolás Sosa 57’).
Coach. Ignacio Ambriz.
