Marcelo Flores continued his hot start to the Clausura, while Charles-Andreas Brym helped NAC earn a key point and both Jonathan David and Ismaël Koné found the scoresheet in Italy. Here's a look at Canadians in action over the weekend.
Marcelo Flores, Tigres
After going winless in two matches, Tigres got back in the win column on Saturday with a visit to Leon. Once again, Georgetown, Ont.'s Marcelo Flores played a key role in the victory. It was a return to the starting lineup for the 22-year-old midfielder, who came off the bench in the team's 0-0 draw with Toluca last week.
Nearing the 10-minute mark, Flores almost opened the scoring. Dancing into the area, Flores shook off Rodrigo Echeverria before unleashing a volley with his right foot that sailed past the far post of Gato's net. A visibly annoyed Flores knew he should have done better with his finish.
In the 34th minute, Flores forced Gato into action and he was full value for the save. Flores put Sebastian Vegas on skates, cutting back to his left foot after seemingly readying to shoot with his right, but Gato firmly palmed away his effort with a diving stop. It was the visitors' best scoring chance of the first half.
Flores and Tigres would get their goal in the opening minutes of the second frame. With the hosts pushing for the game's first goal, Tigres broke out the other way. At midfield, Diego Lainez slipped a fine pass for a streaking Flores down the left who ran in on goal on his own.
Gato came out to cut the angle, but Flores slipped his shot through the wickets to open the scoring in the 47th and celebrating the goal with a twisting flip. It was Flores's third goal of the season through four matches.
Less than 10 minutes later, Lainez would bag a goal of his own. Under pressure from the Tigres press, Jaine Barreiro turned the ball over only yards outside of his own area. Osvaldo Rodriguez then found Lainez at the edge of the box. Lainez turned and fired a hard volley over the outstretched Gato that clipped the inside of the crossbar and bounced over the line to make it 2-0 in the 54th.
The hosts would strike back only five minutes later, completing a fine team move. After a give and go in midfield, Fernando Beltran ran into the area and sent a ball to the far post where Diber Cambindo stretched to slide home to make it 2-1 in the 59th. The goal came at some cost to Cambindo, though, as he slid right into the post with his follow through and had some difficulty getting back to his feet. He did manage to play the rest of the match.
While that would be it for scoring, the match ended on a controversial note. Deep into stoppage, former France forward Andre-Pierre Gignac, now in his 11th season at Tigres, was booked for a forearm to the face of Echeverria as they both awaited an aerial ball.
Incensed by the decision, Gignac got into the face of referee Adonai Escobedo, who promptly showed him a second yellow and sent him off. Gignac was then restrained by players from both teams from any further remonstration.
The win put Tigres on seven points through four matches of the Clausura, good for seventh in the table. They trail league-leading Chivas, still perfect through a quartet of games, by five points.
Flores and Tigres return to action on Tuesday night with a visit to Hamilton, Ont. to take on Forge FC in the first leg of their Concacaf Champions Cup tie. Their next league match is Friday when they host 17th-place Santos, who are still looking for their first victory of the season.
Charles-Andreas Brym, NAC
When you are in a relegation scrap, every point matters. You must fight tooth and nail to do whatever you can to avoid the drop. Montreal's Charles-Andreas Brym and NAC are in such a predicament right now as the Eredivisie season kicks into the stretch drive.
They played host to Twente on Friday and managed to fight back to claim a point.