MIAMI, Florida – Liga MX side Club Leon will have their sights set on a quarterfinal berth when they take on Tauro FC of Panama in the second leg of the 2023 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League Round of 16 on Thursday night at the Estadio Leon in Leon, Mexico.
An Ivan Moreno goal last week in Panama earned Club Leon a vital 1-0 victory away from home and now a chance to close things out in front of their home fans awaits La Fiera.
Moreno’s timely strike was accompanied by a solid outing from GK Rodolfo Cota, who had a save for his third straight SCCL Round of 16 clean sheet. Meanwhile, young MF Fidel Ambriz completed every one of his 36 passes and Brian Rubio led the team in shots with four.
Overall in Concacaf competition, Club Leon have a sparkling home record of 7W-4D-1L, and in the SCCL era they have 11 games in which they have scored and only three in which they failed to score.
But an early goal from Tauro could completely turn the series on its head and level the Panamanians on aggregate. In 21 away matches in all Concacaf competitions, Tauro have 17 goals, including two at FC Dallas in the 2018 Round of 16.
Players such as Breidy Goluz, Rolando Botello and Gerardo Negrete will need to come up big for the Canalero club. Goluz led the team in shots with three in last week’s first leg and has six goals in his last seven domestic league matches.
Botello, who has 20 Concacaf games under his belt, led the team in passes completed with 35 in the first leg, while Negrete was a vacuum cleaner for the defense in making four clearances.
Match Officials
Referee: Walter Lopez (GUA)
AR1 Juan Tipaz (GUA) AR1 Raymundo Feliz (DOM)
4th Official: Ismael Cornejo (SLV)
VAR Melissa Borjas (HON)
AVAR Ekaterina Koroleva (USA)
