SCCL stalwarts Motagua and Pachuca set for Round of 16 duel | OneFootball

MIAMI, Florida – Scotiabank Concacaf Champions League stalwarts Motagua of Honduras and Liga MX side Pachuca will face off on Thursday night in the first leg of the 2023 Round of 16 at the Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.

This year marks the seventh appearance in the SCCL for Motagua, while five-time Concacaf champions Pachuca will be competing in their fourth SCCL and first since their title-winning campaign in the 2016-17 edition.

The two sides did meet back in the 2008 Concacaf Champions Cup in what was a hard-fought 1-0 aggregate win for the Mexican side.

Motagua are back in the SCCL after qualifying from the 2022 Scotiabank Concacaf League in which they finished as semifinalists.

In all-time SCCL or Concacaf Champions Cup matches at home, Motagua own a solid record of 9W-10D-8L, so they will be targeting another positive result to start their series with the Tuzos.

Many of the players who helped Motagua reach the final four of the 2022 SCL will be a part of this SCCL effort, including FW Roberto Moreira, MF Walter Martinez and GK Jonathan Rougier.

Moreira has eight goals in 32 career Concacaf club matches, while Martinez has 31 Concacaf games under his belt. Rougier is as solid as they come in goal, with 37 games between the sticks in the SCCL and SCL and 102 career saves in those competitions.

Pachuca’s Concacaf pedigree is beyond reproach, highlighted by their sparkling overall record in the SCCL era of 19W-7D-4L, with a whopping 81 goals scored and just 29 conceded.

Thanks to their runner-up finish in the 2022 Liga MX Clausura, the Tuzos are back in the big dance and will be relying on players such as Luis Chavez, Aviles Hurtado and Oscar Murillo to start the tournament on the right foot.

Chavez was excellent for Mexico in midfield in the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 with a goal, while Hurtado is a past SCCL champion with Monterrey, with whom he scored two goals in eight games during in the 2019 edition. Murillo is a defensive stalwart and played nine matches during Pachuca’s run to the 2016-17 SCCL crown.