América thrash Puebla to virtually end quarterfinal tie | OneFootball

Club América asserted their dominance and showed why they were the regular-season champions, coming from behind to defeat Puebla 6-1 in the first leg of their Liguilla quarter-final tie.

Scorers: Cortizo 14′; Valdés 31′, Martín 33′, 57′, Zendejas 65′, Rodríguez 77′, Viñas 90+2′

Puebla, playing in front of their home fans, pulled off a stunner by scoring the opening goal of the match in the 14th minute, with Federico Mancuello’s goal-bound effort purposefully deflected in by Jordi Cortizo, who was just barely onside.

However, they would only stay in front for the first 30 minutes as the match quickly got ugly. Diego Valdés equalised in the 31st minute, heading home Richard Sanchez’s free-kick at the back post.

Two minutes later, Henry Martín gave the Eagles the lead from close range, dispatching Valdés’s cross from inside the six-yard box.

Martín would complete his brace on the other side of halftime, with Néstor Araujo providing a perfect long-range ball that Martín ran onto and slid home first time past Antony Silva.

Alejandro Zendejas would make it four in the 65th minute, pouncing on the rebound from close range after Silva fumbled a shot that he should have handle.

Brian Rodríguez would score his first-career Liga MX goal to put the tie virtually to bed after Memo Ochoa’s punt bounced over the defence, leading to a rare goalkeeper assist.

Whatever hope Puebla had disappeared in stoppage time, with Federico Viñas finishing off a fantastic piece of interplay with Jonathan Rodríguez.

The two sides will complete the tie on Saturday night.