Atlas looking to summon home magic in return leg with Union | OneFootball

MIAMI, Florida – Liga MX side Atlas will be looking to produce some more home magic in the 2023 Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League when they square off with the Philadelphia Union in the second leg of the 2023 quarterfinals on Wednesday night at the Estadio Jalisco in Guadalajara, Mexico.

The Union picked up a 1-0 win at home in last week’s first leg thanks to a late Daniel Gazdag penalty conversion to take a slight advantage into the return leg.

But facing a deficit at home in a second leg is nothing new for Atlas. The Guadalajara-based club were staring at a 4-1 hole going into their Round of 16 second leg against Olimpia of Honduras and got a performance of the ages from Julian Quinones, who scored two goals and added an assist in a 4-0 win to punch their quarterfinal ticket.

Philadelphia will provide a sturdy test, though, considering the Union have a very good record when playing away from home in the SCCL at 2W-1D-1L.

There is also the matter of getting the best of star Jamaican GK Andre Blake, who has four saves in the current SCCL and five career SCCL clean sheets.

Gazdag is tied with Andres Perea for goals scored on the current SCCL campaign with two and the Hungarian has also been instrumental in winning set pieces for his side, with six fouls received.

Julian Carranza is another dangerman to watch after recording four shots in the first leg, while Jose Martinez is a workhorse in midfield and had seven ball recoveries last week.

Atlas were kept off the scoresheet in the first leg, but they will fancy their chances of finding the back of the net on Wednesday with the likes of attackers Quinones and Julio Cesar Furch.

In addition to his superb return leg versus Olimpia, Quinones has remained scorching hot in Liga MX, scoring a wondergoal over the weekend against FC Juarez.

Furch is also a good bet to score at home in the SCCL, with three goals in his last four SCCL home matches and overall six goals in nine SCL matches. Another key piece is in midfield in the form of Luis Reyes, who completed 37 of 41 passes in the first leg. That accuracy and precision will be needed in order to complete a comeback.