MIAMI, Florida – Another chapter to the rivalry between Liga MX and Major League Soccer will be added on Wednesday night as Club Leon face off against Toronto FC in the first leg of the 2021 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League Round of 16 at the Estadio Leon in Leon, Mexico.
The visitors from Canada will be making their seventh appearance in the tournament and their first since 2019 when they were eliminated by Independiente of Panama in the Round of 16.
Toronto FC are one of just four teams from MLS to have reached the SCCL Final, achieving that feat in 2018, and now a new group of players will try to reach that stage of the tournament.
Many of the players from that 2018 run are still in the mix, such as MF Jonathan Osorio and FW Jozy Altidore, while MF Alejandro Pozuelo, who took home 2020 MLS MVP honors, will get his first crack at Concacaf competition.
In their history, Toronto FC have a 4W-4D-7L record against Mexican opposition, but that 2018 run did include victories over UANL Tigres and Club America.
Club Leon will hope that the third time will be a charm in the 2021 SCCL. In their previous two SCCL appearances, Club Leon failed to advance past a round, including a narrow 3-2 aggregate defeat to Los Angeles FC in last season’s Round of 16.
But with the likes of Luis Montes and Angel Mena in the mix, Club Leon have all the weapons to start strong and make a deep run in the tournament.
Match Officials
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Match: |
Club Leon (MEX) vs Toronto FC (CAN) |
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Referee: |
Ricardo MONTERO (Costa Rica) |
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Assistant Referee 1: |
William ARRIETA (Costa Rica) |
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Assistant Referee 2: |
Juan CARLOS MORA (Costa Rica) |
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Fourth Official: |
Keylor HERRERA (Costa Rica) |
