- Tigre fell 2-1 to Nacional in Victoria but secured their place in the CONMEBOL Sudamericana Round of 16 after finishing the tie with a 4-2 aggregate advantage.
- Santiago López, the young Argentine forward, was the hero of the night just when El Bolso seemed to be on the verge of a historic comeback.
The Argentine side, which will return to the competition’s Round of 16 for the first time in 14 years (their last appearance came in 2012), advanced thanks to the commanding 3-0 victory secured in the first leg of the Playoffs and will face Montevideo City Torque in the CONMEBOL Sudamericana Round of 16.
Maximiliano Gómez, captain of the Uruguayan side, struck a low free kick from the edge of the penalty area just moments after kick-off. His effort took a deflection off the wall and nearly crept in at the right post of Felipe Zenobio’s goal.
The Uruguayan forward did not have to wait long for another chance. He intercepted a difficult pass from Gonzalo ‘Pity’ Martínez and unleashed a powerful long-range strike to quickly pull one back, keeping El Bolso’s hopes alive of overturning the deficit they had brought into the Estadio José Dellagiovanna.
In the 31st minute of the first half, Maximiliano Silvera further fueled the Uruguayan side’s hopes by scoring Jorge Bava’s team’s second goal after a pinpoint cross from Argentine Tomás Verón.
The Argentine side managed to level the flow of the game early in the second half, largely thanks to the influence of two of its key figures: Jalil Elías and Gonzalo Martínez.
Tigre’s clearest chance of the match came from the former River midfielder’s feet: a through ball for Ignacio Russo that ended with Santiago López finishing from close range to pull one back for the hosts, only for the goal to be ruled out for offside against the young Matador winger. Shortly afterward, López forced Rogel into an error with his pressing, but was unable to convert his one-on-one opportunity against Arias.
The 20-year-old forward finally got his reward in the 37th minute of the second half. Nahuel Banegas surged forward from left-back into the attacking third and set up López, who made no mistake with his third opportunity, pulled one back for Dabove’s side and sealed the Argentine team’s place in the next round with a 4-2 aggregate victory.
The Argentine representative will face Montevideo City Torque in the Round of 16 of La Gran Conquista. The first leg will be played in Victoria between August 11 and 13, with the tie to be decided the following week in Uruguay.
The match in numbers:
- Tigre have reached the Round of 16 of a CONMEBOL competition for the third time, after the 2012 Sudamericana —when they finished as runners-up— and the 2013 Libertadores.
- Santiago López is the second-youngest player to score for Tigre in CONMEBOL competitions, at 20 years and 169 days, behind only Diego Ftacla in the 2012 Sudamericana (20 years and 74 days).
- Maxi Gómez’s opening goal against Tigre is Nacional’s second-longest-range strike in the CONMEBOL Sudamericana since 2013, scored from 26.3 meters out. Only Leandro Lozano’s goal against Unión in the 2022 Round of 16 came from farther away, at 26.9 meters.
- Nacional scored two first-half goals away from home for only the second time in the CONMEBOL Sudamericana, after previously doing so against Oriente Petrolero in the first round in 2015.
- Gonzalo ‘Pity’ Martínez (Tigre) created three chances, delivered six crosses and attempted seven dribbles against Nacional. The last time he reached those figures in all three categories in a CONMEBOL competition match was in the 2018 Libertadores final with River against Boca, when he recorded seven chances created, 20 crosses and nine attempted dribbles.
