Pachuca triumph 5-1 over Toluca in first leg of 2022 Liga MX Apertura final | OneFootball

Pachuca triumphed 5-1 against Toluca in the chaotic first leg of the 2022 Liga MX Apertura final on Thursday at the Estadio Nemesio Díez, as goals from Nicolas Ibañez, Romario Ibarra, Gustavo Cabral and Mauricio Isais propelled Guillermo Almada’s side one step closer to the trophy.

The visitors kicked off the scoring in the eighth minute, before taking advantage of every minor error by Toluca to head into halftime with the 4-0 lead. Though the second 45 saw a different game, with Toluca determined to find the back of the net, Pachuca managed to stun goalkeeper Thiago Volpi a fifth time.

Jordan Sierra finally reduced the Red Devil’s deficit with a 78th minute goal, leaving Pachuca goalkeeper Oscar Ustari without the clean sheet. Toluca almost managed a second, after Erick Sanchez fouled the opponent inside the box to award the Red Devils a penalty. Leonardo Fernández stepped up to the spot, striking the ball to the left for Ustari to make the perfectly-timed dive and avoid the 5-2 scoreline.

Though Pachuca heads into Sunday’s second leg match as favorites to win with the lead, Ustari isn’t taking anything for granted.

"As for the mood, it's important, I won't deny it, but I was left with the reason for the penalty and what happened in the last 15 minutes, we played very far back and there are always things to correct," he said after the game.

"We came to win, we know that the rival presses and can score a goal for us, to emphasize those 15 minutes because in reality we did not have a good time on the pitch , but we played a great game in general.”

Kevin Alvarez echoed his teammate’s thoughts, adding Pachuca will enter Sunday’s game as if the score remains 0-0.

"For us it's still 0-0 and we're going to play with everything. Just as we scored 5 against them, they can do it too, come out focused. Of course it's a dream, we're a little step away, but there are 90 minutes left, it will be a very complicated match,” he said.

"We thought we could take the victory, we didn't know how it was going to turn out, but we have to put aside the 5 goals we scored and take into account the last 30 minutes, which was where they hurt us the most.”

Pachuca will now host Toluca at the Estadio Hidalgo, where the winner will lift the 2022 Liga MX Apertura trophy.