MIAMI, Florida – Long-time Liga MX rivals Chivas and Club America begin what should be an epic series in the 2024 Concacaf Champions Cup Round of 16 with the first leg on Wednesday night at the Estadio Akron in Guadalajara, Mexico.

While there have been countless battles between the two clubs in domestic competition, this marks just their third ever Champions Cup meeting. Their lone previous series came back in 1985 when Club America emerged with a 3-1 victory and a 1-1 draw in the First Round.

Club America punched their Round of 16 ticket by rallying from a 2-1 first leg defeat to Real Esteli of Nicaragua with a 2-0 home win in the second leg for a 3-2 aggregate victory in Round One.

One of the key pieces in the comeback for Las Aguilas was Alejandro Zendejas, who scored a goal and led the team in shots (7), ball recoveries (3) and fouls drawn (6). Julian Quinones also played a big role, scoring a massive away goal in the final minutes of that first leg defeat.

Game Notes, stats Chivas vs America
Download

Jonathan Rodriguez supplied the other goal in the second leg against the Nicaraguans, and along with Diego Valdes, who has three career Champions Cup goals, Club America have the make-up to make a run at an eighth Concacaf crown.

Chivas would like nothing more than to spoil the party for their ‘Clasico Nacional’ rivals. The Guadalajara-based club defeated Canadian Premier League side Forge FC 5-2 on aggregate in Round One to advance to the Round of 16.

Cade Cowell played a major role in that success with two goals and an assist, while Erick Gutierrez and Jose Castillo also supplied scores against Forge.

Two other players to watch are Ronaldo Cisneros and Alan Mozo, who have a history of scoring against Club America. Cisneros, a member of Chivas’ 2018 Champions Cup winning team, scored in the 2023 Liga MX Clausura semifinals against Las Aguilas, while Mozo has two career goals against the Mexico City side.

Match Officials CD Guadalajara (MEX) vs Club America (MEX)

REF:      SAID MARTINEZ (Honduras)

AR1:     WALTER LOPEZ (Honduras)

AR2:      CHRISTIAN RAMIREZ (Honduras)

4TH:      BRYAN LOPEZ (Guatemala)

VAR:     ADONAI ESCOBEDO (Mexico)

VAR1:    BENJAMIN PINEDA (Costa Rica)