France striker Andre-Pierre Gignac was once again on the scoresheet as Tigres defeated Leon 2-1 on Saturday to book their place in the Liga MX Apertura 2016 final.
Gignac made it five goals in three games to level the scores on the stroke of half-time, with Lucas Zelarayan scoring the winner for Tigres in the 78th minute. Luis Montes netted Leon's only goal just after the quarter hour to give the side hope after Tigres' 1-0 victory in the first leg last Wednesday.
The final will be played against the winner of Sunday's semi between Club America and Necaxa, with the teams drawing 1-1 in Thursday's first leg.
Montes executed a perfect shot from 25 yards to hand Leon a deserved lead. But just as it looked like the away side would be ahead at half-time, Gignac received the ball down the right channel, cut inside past defender Guillermo Burdisso and slotted the ball into the corner of the net.
Gignac celebrated by sending the Tigres bench to "sleep," in a nod to the hypnotist the former Marseille striker has been using recently to help boost his performances, while Leon complained that he was offside, which TV replays showed to be correct.
Leon then had a goal disallowed under dubious circumstances in the 61st minute, with the officials indicating that the ball had gone out of play in the build-up, before substitute Zelarayan curled in the winner from just inside the penalty area.
The Apertura 2016 final will be on Thursday and Sunday should Necaxa advance from the other semi, or on Dec. 22 and Dec. 25 should Club America go through, due to the latter's commitments in the Club World Cup in Japan.