Pachuca lift CONCACAF title after 1-0 win over Tigres

[April 27, 2017]  MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - A late goal from Franco Jara gave Pachuca a 1-0 win over Tigres on Wednesday and helped the Mexican side to their fifth CONCACAF Champions League title with a 2-1 aggregate victory.

With 83 minutes gone, a long-range shot slipped from the hands of Tigres goalkeeper Nahuel Guzman and Jara nipped in to side-foot the ball home from eight yards out.

Tigres' French striker Andre-Pierre Gignac scored with less than a minute of injury time left but the goal that would have taken the game to extra-time was chalked off for offside.

The two teams tied the first leg 1-1 in Monterrey last week.

"It was tough but we deserved it, Pachuca are always going to give 100 percent to get these results," Pachuca midfielder Jorge Hernandez told Fox Sports moments after the final whistle.

Both sides had chances to win what was a scrappy and hotly-contested game, with Gignac smacking the bar with a ferocious 30-yard drive after 33 minutes and Jara heading straight at Guzman a minute before half time.

The turning point of the game might have been the sending off of Tigres's combative midfielder Guido Pizarro for a second bookable offence after 78 minutes.

Moments later Jara got the winner and there was no way back for a Tigres side that have been dominant domestically but unable to add an international title to their list of honors.

Pachuca's victory marks the ninth consecutive time that a Mexican club has won the competition.

 Mexico's Pachuca v Mexico's Tigres - Second leg of CONCACAF Champions Cup final soccer match - Hidalgo stadium, Pachuca, Mexico, 26/04/2017. Franco Jara (C) of Mexico 's Pachuca celebrates after scoring his goal against Tigres. REUTERS/Henry Romero

Their win at a packed Hidalgo stadium extended the club's unbeaten home record to 31 games and meant they will represent the CONCACAF region at the World Club Cup in United Arab Emirates later this year.

Pachuca previously won the CONCACAF Champions League in 2002, 2007, 2008 and 2010 and have appeared in the World Club Cup three times previously.

The CONCACAF Champions League started in August last year and featured 24 teams from North America, Central America and the Caribbean.

(Writing by Andrew Downie; Additional reporting by Carlos Pacheco; editing by Sudipto Ganguly)

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