By Miguel Rapetti
Nov 29, 2023, 8:31 PM EST
The Colombian Luis Quiñones, winger of the champions Tigres de la UANL in the Liga MX, denied this Wednesday that his team arrived diminished for the first leg of the quarterfinals of the Apertura 2023 Mexican soccer tournament against Puebla for not having his greatest figure, the Frenchman André-Pierre Gignac.
Gignac, the cats’ all-time leading scorer, recovered from a pubic injury, but will not travel with the team to visit Puebla this Thursday in the first leg of the quarterfinal series because he still has to regain his form. physical after the time he was off the courts.
“There is a large squad, with many players, in which we can all be part of the starting team. I trust everyone, both André and everyone, we are a strong group, and we are focused on playing a great game on a difficult court,” said the player from Antioquia.
Quiñones, 32, ruled out that Puebla, with one of the lowest payrolls in the league, is an easy rival, so he asked his teammates to take seriously the series that will end this Sunday with the return duel at the home of the Tigers.
“Puebla is a difficult opponent with a complicated field and we must approach that match very seriously. The team is focused on what we want, to advance to a final again and fight for the title.”
The Colombian, former soccer player for Independiente de Santa Fe, stated that the experience that the Tigres have, the most winning team in Mexico in the last decade, will work in their favor against Puebla.
“We have to see how the game goes, if we have to go out and attack we will do it, but if we have to play it more slowly we will also do it with our experience. We have studied the rival with the coaching staff, we have seen his virtues and we must counteract that with the good football that characterizes us,” stated Quiñones.