Santos Laguna 3 Tigres UANL 2 (agg 3-5): Valencia leads visitors into final

Tigres UANL advanced to the CONCACAF Champions League final, despite a 3-2 second-leg defeat at Santos Laguna.

Santos fought back with three unanswered goals but first-half strikes from Enner Valencia and Julian Quinones gave Tigres a 5-3 aggregate victory.

Through to their third final in four seasons, Tigres – who have never won the competition – will face either Monterrey or Sporting Kansas City in the decider.

Tigres were in a commanding position heading into Wednesday’s return fixture thanks to last week’s 3-0 win on home soil – inspired by Valencia’s brace.

Revive los mejores momentos del primer tiempo del partido de vuelta de semifinales #SCCL2019. Marcador global: @TigresOficial 5-1 @ClubSantos #SANvTIG pic.twitter.com/XKadkssi7N

— Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League (@TheChampions) April 11, 2019

Former West Ham and Everton forward Valencia was in the thick of the action again midweek, opening the scoring in the 11th minute after rounding the goalkeeper.

Quinones doubled the lead 23 minutes later when he drove past three Santos defenders and curled his shot beyond Jonathan Orozco.

Después de un gran partido, digno de semifinales de #SCCL2019, @julian_quiones3 de @TigresOficial es nombrado el Jugador del Partido #SANvTIG pic.twitter.com/TWaZyIvkoZ

— Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League (@TheChampions) April 11, 2019

Trailing 5-0 on aggregate, Julio Furch reduced the deficit prior to half-time before netting a second goal approaching the hour-mark.

Diego Valdes put Santos ahead on the night but it was merely a consolation for the home side, who saw Javier Correa fail to convert a 95th-minute penalty.