Adonis Frias scored in the 79th minute as hosts Lyon beat Tigres UANL 3-1 at the Estadio Leon in Mexico to reach the CONCACAF Champions League final on Wednesday night.
After Tigres won 2-1 in the first leg of their semi-final last week in San Nicolas de los Garza, Mexico, Leon needed to win in multiple goals to advance without a tiebreaker. Frias’ goal gave them that lead and Lyon won 4–3 on aggregate to set up a matchup with Los Angeles FC of MLS in the final.
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The dates for the final two legs are yet to be announced.
On Thursday, Fidel Umbridge scored in the 10th minute to give Lyon the lead and immediately even the aggregate teams. Five minutes later, Angel Mena scored for Leon to make it 2-0 and put the hosts ahead on aggregate.
Raimundo Fulgencio finally answered the overall situation with a goal in the 68th minute for Tigres.
But close to the last 10 minutes of regulation, Lyon earned a corner kick. Victor Davila sends the ball into the middle of the box, where it goes to Frias at the back post. Standing unmarked, Frias easily slotted the ball past goalkeeper Nahuel Guzman and sent the crowd into a frenzy.
This will be Lyon’s first appearance in a Champions League final against another opponent. The club finished second in 1993, but the final was a four-team, round-robin quadrilateral decided by goal differential. Costa Rica’s Saprissa won with a plus-8 differential; Leon was plus-4.