Football
Tom Marshall, Mexico correspondent 7y

Tigres, Gignac beat Monterrey to roll into Clausura playoff semifinals

Andre-Pierre Gignac continued his fine form on Saturday, netting both goals in Tigres' 2-0 victory over city rival Monterrey to send Tigres through to the semifinals of the 2017 Clausura with a 6-1 aggregate win.

Gignac scored from a direct free kick in first-half injury time and finished in the 68th minute to make it 2-0. The goals take the France international to 10 over his last seven Liga MX matches.

The Clasico Regio victory saw reigning Liga MX champions Tigres advance 6-1 on aggregate over the two legs against Monterrey.

Rayados needed to overcome the 4-1 deficit from Wednesday's first leg in Estadio Universitario and started brightly, with Colombian Edwin Cardona going close with a header early on.

Tigres coach Ricardo "Tuca" Ferretti took off attacking midfielder Lucas Zelarayan in the 27th and replaced him with center-back Francisco Meza to shore-up the defense, which stifled Monterrey.

The visitors on the night qualified for the playoffs after finishing in seventh place in the Liga MX regular season and will face Club Tijuana, Chivas or Toluca in the semifinals.

In Saturday's other quarter, Toluca lost 3-1 to Santos Laguna, but advanced 5-4 on aggregate over the two legs.

Santos opened the scoring in the 21st minute through an Enrique Triverio own goal, before Antonio Rios equalized for Toluca three minutes before half-time.

Ulises Rivas restored Santos' lead in the 45th, but Julio Furch set up a nervous last 30 minutes for Toluca with a goal in the 60th. Toluca goalkeeper

Alfredo Talavera had kept his team in the tie with a string of quality saves, but it was a poor performance overall from the home side.

On Sunday, Atlas face Chivas with a 1-0 lead from the first leg and Club Tijuana hosts Morelia needing to come behind from the 1-0 defeat last Thursday.

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