Club América beat Tigres on penalties to win Campeon de Campeones Cup

Club América beat Tigres 6-5 on penalties Sunday to win the Campeon de Campeones Cup after a goalless 90 minutes at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.

The game featured the last two Liga MX champions, with the winners of the 2018 Liga MX Apertura and the 2019 Liga MX Clausura facing off in a one-game title decider.

Las Águilas got straight into the action and came closest to scoring early in the first half when a Jorge Sanchez header went narrowly wide of Nahuel Guzman’s goal.

In truth, apart from some tame opportunities in the final third, the first half left plenty to be desired, but it was Tigres who settled quickest after the break when Bruno Valdez nearly scored an own-goal off a corner kick.

After 52 minutes, Andre-Pierre Gignac fashioned his first chance with a superb cross from Luis Quiñones seeing the Frenchman get a header just inches wide.

With only minutes remaining, the match finally opened up, and from a loose ball just outside the box, Paul Aguilar tried his luck, only to have Nahuel Guzman pull of a phenomenal save.

With time running out and penalties looming, Nahuel Guzman was once again brilliant in saving a last-minute effort from América’s Sebastian Cordova.

As the shootout began, both Gignac and Nico Castillo scored. Rafael Carioca then saw his penalty saved, with Emanuel Aguilera converting to seal an early advantage for América.

Tigres kept themselves in touch with Luis “Chaka” Rodriguez scoring before managing to erase América’s advantage moments later, as Bruno Valdez blasted his penalty kick above the crossbar.

After a series of successful penalties, the shootout went into sudden death. Though América twice had the chance to win it, both Paul Aguilar and Sebastian Cordova saw their respective penalties saved.

With the penalty shootout tied at 5-5, another missed Tigres penalty put Las Águilas on the brink of the title. This time, there would be no mistake, and Agustin Marchesin smashed in his kick to seal the title for América.