De Nigris celebrated in victory

Monterrey top Club America in emotional first leg of Liguilla quarterfinal

Antonio De Nigris was fondly remembered by his beloved Monterrey fans. (AP)

Last week began with terrible news. Former Mexican National Team forward Antonio De Nigris died in Greece after a fulminated heart attack. "Toño" lost his life when he was playing in AE Larisa, at only 31 years of age.

After some days of international formalities, Tano's body arrived to Monterrey, his homeland, exactly for the game of Liguilla, Monterrey against America.

Just before the kick off, his former team honored De Nigris, who made his debut in 1999 with Rayados. Antonio De Nigris was a globetrotter; he also played in Spain (Villarreal and Poli Ejido), Colombia (Once Caldas-including a Intercontinental Cup-), Brazil (Santos), Turkey (Giantepspor, Ankaraspor and Ankaragucu), Greece (AE Larisa) and China (Shandong Luneng). In Mexico he spent some time with Monterrey, America, Pumas and Puebla.

As if it had been written in a film script, his brother Aldo scored the only goal from the game and gave the triumph to Rayados 1-0 over Aguilas (48') in the "First Leg" of Liguilla quarterfinals. With tears in his eyes, Aldo looked at the sky and celebrated with his brother, who surely was happy after the victory of his beloved team.

At Puebla there was a formidable game. Cruz Azul visited La Franja and both teams tied 4-4 at Cuauhtemoc Stadium.

Nicolas Olvera scored the fastest goal of Mexican Liguilla. Only 14 seconds were needed for the Uruguayan to beat "Blue Machine" goalkeeper Jesus Corona.

However, Cruz Azul reacted and put the ball in Puebla's net, thanks to Melvin Brown (12') and Gerardo Torrado (21'). The score turned for Enrique Meza and his pupils in only a blink of an eye.

"Chelis" Sánchez Solá, Puebla's manager, asked for strength and courage from his team and Uruguayan Alejandro Acosta (29') and Nicolas Vigneri -- formerly of Cruz Azul -- (32') made the score 3-2 for La Franja.

At 45', Jared Borgetti headed the score to 4-2, his goal standing as the 248th of his career. Borgetti's next goal will tie him with Jose Saturnino Cardozo (249) and get him third place on Mexico's all-time scoring list; Carlos Hermosillo tallied 294 goals and Cabinho, 311.

When the second half began, Jaime Lozano completed a tremendous performance and was the hero for Cruz Azul, thanks to his couple of goals. An unjust penalty kick (51') and a header (81') put the total at 4-4.

At Torreon, Santos Laguna beat Morelia 2-1, one of the best teams in town, with a tremendous recital of Carlos Ochoa, who scored twice for the Warriors at his new stadium, Territorio Santos Modelo.

Ochoa (25' and 61') gave happiness to Sergio Bueno and all Santos fans, but Chilean Hugo Droguett snatched a goal for Monarcas (49'). Finally, San Luis won 2-1 over Toluca, a treacherous result, because "Gladiators" qualified as number 11 to Liguilla, while Red Devils were the best of the best.

Pablo Cesar Aguilar'a (76') solo goal has given a breath of life to Argentinean coach Miguel Angel "Lefty" Lopez. However, he knows that Toluca, in the second leg at home, will be very different and his team will get his ticket to the Semifinals just playing smarter than Jose Manuel de la Torre's squad, next weekend at La Bombonera Stadium.

Abel Reyes Díaz is a contributor to GlobalSoccerCenter.com.