Tigres UANL 2 Queretaro 0: Gignac breaks deadlock

Tigres UANL will play their maiden CONCACAF Champions League final thanks to the heroics of French striker Andre-Pierre Gignac.

Ten-man Tigres won the second leg of their semi-final against Queretaro 2-0, after the two sides played out a goalless stalemate in the first leg.

Former Marseille man Gignac was on fire for the home side as the tie approached extra time, but only after Jesus Duenas got himself sent off with a second yellow card after 71 minutes.

It took 174 minutes of football over two legs for the deadlock to be broken between the two Mexican sides and Gignac sent the Estadio Universitario de Nuevo Leon into raptures when he produced a brilliant finish.

The Frenchman found the bottom right corner of Tiago Volpi’s goal when he struck a shot first time on the turn to open the scoring.

Despite being a man down, Tigres always looked the more likely to score in the dying stages of the game and Gignac would net a second just four minutes later.

The 30-year-old striker got on the end of a long ball out of defence and showed lovely touch and skill to squirm past two defenders and break into the box, before beating Volpi with a beautiful dink to double his side’s advantage.

The final is set to take place later in April, with Tigres to play the winner of America and Santos Laguna.