Gallos Blancos welcome Tigres in battle at top of table
Queretaro and the Tigres square off Saturday night with the winner setting up well for a high playoff seeding.
Los Gallos Blancos de Queretaro are coming off their fourth loss of the Apertura 2019, falling at league-leading Santos Laguna. The 1-0 loss kept Queretaro at 27 points, good for 4th place place in the standings.
It is safe to say that against Santos (30 points), Queretaro still fought a good battle and had opportunities throughout the 90 minutes of the game. They did not appear outclassed or out played, and the result could leave coach Victor Manuel Vucetich more confident in his team as they move into the playoffs. Still, Los Gallos Blancos must keep their entire focus on each game remaining because a slip-up could leave them with a low seed.
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Come Saturday night, Los Gallos Blancos will welcome one of the toughest teams in the Liga MX in recent years, the defending champion Tigres. The outcome of this game will go a long way in determining the position of both teams in the standings. Both clubs have 27 points heading into the match, although Queretaro is ahead of the fifth-place Tigres by virtue of scoring more goals on the season (28 goals for the Gallos, 26 for the Tigres).
The Tigres are one of the most well-rounded teams in the Apertura 2019 and it showed with their win against visiting Toluca on Wednesday by the score of 1-0 with a goal from defender Carlos Salcedo. With 7 wins, 6 draws and only 2 losses in the tournament, Tigres need to work progressively in the next few games remaining where wins and draws is all that will matter if they want to stay as relevant as possible in the playoff race.
The Tigres are led by the franchise’s all-time leading goalscorer, French striker, Andre Pierre Gignac who has 9 goals under his name in the Apertura 2019. He will be a focus of the Gallos Blancos defense who don’t want him to become the main factor of the game. This should be a very intense game with both Queretaro and the Tigres laying everything on the line as they position themselves for a lengthy playoff run.