Three days after falling 3-0 to Sporting Kansas City in the Concacaf Champions League at Children’s Mercy Park, Deportivo Toluca FC suffered a 4-0 road loss at Santos Laguna in Sunday’s Liga MX matchup at Estadio Corona.
Toluca, who trail Sporting on aggregate going into Thursday’s decisive second leg in the Champions League Round of 16, are now winless in seven games across all competitions since mid-January.
This barren spell includes a 0-5-1 stretch in Liga MX, which has seen Toluca score a single goal and concede 11 over the course of 540 minutes. Los Diablos Rojos also failed to find the back of the net in their turbulent trip to Kansas City as Krisztian Nemeth, Gerso Fernandes and Ilie Sanchez provided goals for the dominant hosts.
Things went from bad to worse for Manager Hernan Cristante’s side on Sunday. Santos Laguna, coming off a 6-2 midweek romp against Honduran side Marathon in the Champions League, took a fifth-minute lead through Diego Valdes before Eduar Preciado struck in the 23rd minute and Marcelo Correa bagged a 39th-minute penalty. Valdes added a fourth on 63 minutes to complete the rout.
The first-half onslaught was compounded by Toluca defender Santiago Garcia’s straight red card with 33 minutes on the clock. Santos translated the numerical advantage into one-way traffic, with the hosts outshooting Toluca 20-4.
Faced with a quick turnaround from Thursday, Cristante rotated his starting lineup with five changes. The left side of defense saw Fernando Tobio and Osvaldo Gonzalez make way for Garcia and Adrian Mora, 18-year-old central midfielder Ivan Acero replaced Antonio Rios, and veteran winger Carlos Esquivel stepped in for Felipe Pardo. Argentine striker Emmanuel Gigliotti received the nod up top after his fellow countryman Enrique Triverio was injured in the first half of Thursday’s Champions League tilt.
Sporting and Toluca will now meet in the second leg of the Round of 16 on Thursday at Estadio Nemesio Diez in Toluca, Mexico. Manager Peter Vermes’ men can advance to the Champions League quarterfinals with a win, a draw or a loss by two or fewer goals.
Thursday’s contest, played at an altitude of 8,750 feet, will kick off at 9 p.m. CT on YahooSports.com and Univision Deportes. The series winner will progress to the Champions League quarterfinals to face the victor between Toronto FC and Independiente of Panama, with quarterfinal fixtures set for March 5-7 and March 12-14.
