Quinones brace spearheads epic Atlas comeback vs. Olimpia

GUADALAJARA – Julian Quinones scored two goals to highlight a magical night for Liga MX side Atlas, who defeated Olimpia of Honduras 4-0 in the second leg of their 2023 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League Round of 16 series on Tuesday night at the Estadio Jalisco in Guadalajara, Mexico.

Atlas were faced with overturning a 4-1 deficit on aggregate to begin the night and they responded with aplomb, giving their home fans a first ever SCCL home match to remember and a 5-4 triumph on aggregate.

The Atlas breakthrough would come in the 38’ via Quinones, who lifted himself above the Olimpia defense and redirected a lofted pass from Luis Reyes into net for a 1-0 Atlas lead, while cutting the aggregate deficit to 4-2.

The goal provided a big boost to the home side, and that carried into the second half as they bore down on the Olimpia goal.

A second Atlas goal arrived in the 63’, when Gaddi Aguirre got on the end of a corner kick that deflected off a teammate in front of the Olimpia goal and fell perfectly for Jonathan Herrera to poke home and make it 2-0 to Atlas in the game and just a 4-3 aggregate scoreline.

Olimpia tried to respond and regain some kind of foothold in the match, but the night belonged to Atlas, and after an initial shot from Aldo Rocha rang off the post, he was right there to follow up the rebound and fire into net to swing the tie in Atlas’ favor with a 3-0 lead in the 78’.

Atlas would then leave no doubt, scoring in second half stoppage time to make it a 4-0 final, with Quinones finishing off a chance off a defensive mistake from Olimpia to complete a dream night for the hosts.