Cruz Azul's Gerardo Flores (pictured) believes that La Maquina will be on the offensive against host Toluca in their CONCACAF Champions League final, second leg meeting on April 23, 2014. (Photo: Mexsport)
TOLUCA, Mexico – Cruz Azul enters the second leg of the CONCACAF Champions League (CCL) final against Toluca with only one thought: victory.
The appetite to lift the trophy is made even greater by the fact that La Maquina has not won the Confederation title since 1997, the last of its record-equaling five crowns.
“We are definite on winning,” said midfielder Gerardo Flores, who has made four 2013-14 CCL appearances. “We want to go to Toluca for the win and be champions of CONCACAF. In our mind there is nothing else going on except the thought of winning. In our hands is the power to crown a good campaign.”
Flores pointed out that it is not worth staying back and waiting for a Toluca error. The current Liga MX table topper, which has 17 goals in nine CCL games, aims to strike first.
“Ninety minutes remain and we know we have to do damage, to show that the team is up to being champions, that it has the hunger to be champion,” Flores declared. “One match is left and you have to go out to win, to look for the score and consecrate ourselves. That is what we desire like so many people.”
With an offensive mentality, Flores believes that Cruz Azul will triumph in the end.
“We are not going out to close ourselves in,” he concluded. “We are going out to win and to be champions. I’m not thinking of losing. I think that we are going to go out champions and we are going to give our best match. The objective is to get the goal for which planned.”
Cruz Azul is the highest-scoring team in CCL history with 106 goals in 49 games, while Toluca has conceded only 23 in 27 outings.
