An emphatic 90 minutes from Leon saw them nearly put their Liguilla semifinal leg to bed, but they forgot to play stoppage time.
Leon put together 90 minutes of a dominant performance on Thursday night, but face a tricky away match this weekend after losing their focus in stoppage time. Santos Laguna found an away goal through Javier Orozco at the end of a poor performance, and after a 3-1 loss Los Guerreros have a much better chance to advance in the Liguilla semifinals than they should.
It took until the 35th minute for Leon to find a breakthrough, but they looked like the much better side up until that point. Jose Vazquez scored the opener with a bullet of a drive from outside the box, assisted by Hernan Burbano. Eight minutes later, Carlos Peña doubled Leon's lead, cleaning up the garbage in the box after Oswaldo Sanchez made a stop on Matias Britos.
Things continued on in similar fashion in the second half, eventually culminating in Leon scoring a third time through substitute Franco Arizala. They looked to be coasting to a shutout win and a final appearance until they gifted Santos a late goal. A couple of substitutes combined to make it work, with Mauro Cejas picking out the head of Orozco with a cross. They were seriously aided by Leon keeper William Yarbrough, who came off his line unnecessarily and flapped at the ball, never coming close to making contact.
Leon: Yarbrough, Hernadnez, Marquez, Magallon, Ibarra, Peña (Delgado 79'), Montes (Loboa 70'), Burbano (Arizala 67'), Vazquez, Britos, Boselli
Goals: Vazquez (35'), Peña (43'), Arizala (70')
Santos: Sanchez, Fanjul, Baloy, Araujo, Alanis, Escoboza, Rodriguez, Salinas (Crosas 75'), Calderon (Cejas 46'), Quintero (Orozco 74'), Peralta
Goals: Orozco (90')
