Dominican Republic – Liga MX side Club Leon are through to the semifinals of the 2023 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League despite a 2-1 defeat to Violette of Haiti in the second leg of the 2023 SCCL quarterfinals on Tuesday night at the Estadio Cibao in Santiago, Dominican Republic.
Club Leon have reached the semifinals thanks to a 6-2 win on aggregate, earning the club their first ever semifinal in the SCCL era.
Despite suffering elimination, Violette still made history by becoming the first Haitian club to defeat a Mexican club in an SCCL match.
Down 5-0 on aggregate to start the night, Violette came out aggressive from the start and were rewarded for their efforts with Miche-Naider Chery scoring his third goal of the tournament in the 15’ via header to hand Violette a 1-0 lead.
The goal inspired Violette even more and after Roberto Louima did well to earn a corner kick, Chery banged in his second header of the night in the 26’ to make it a 2-0 Violette advantage in the match and just a 5-2 deficit on aggregate.
Club Leon were able to respond right away, though, and pulled a goal back in the match in the 30’ from the penalty spot, with Brian Rubio converting to make it a 2-1 contest.
The goal helped Club Leon settle into things and La Fiera would muster up several more chances to equalize, including a gilt-edged chance in the 64’ that Lucas Romero barely missed wide.
The pressure kept coming from the Mexican visitors and next it was Victor Davila almost scoring with a left-footed shot in the 76’ that forced Violette GK Paul Robert Decius into a diving save.
In the end, a tying goal was not in the cards for Club Leon, as Violette earned the victory in the game, but the spot in the semifinals belonged to the visitors.
