Real Salt Lake has learned its path in the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League Knockout Stage as the field has been set for the eight teams that will play in the quarterfinals beginning in February.
RSL is one of four MLS teams that qualified for the quarterfinals and will face Tigres UANL from Mexico’s Liga MX. The teams will play in an aggregate-goal, home-and-away series. As the third seed in the tournament, RSL will host the second leg between March 1-3 at Rio Tinto Stadium. The first leg will be in Nuevo Leon, Mexico, in the window of February 23-25.
Salt Lake finished atop the Group G standings with a 3-0-1 record, allowing just one goal in four matches against Santa Tecla FC from El Salvador and Municipal from Guatemala. That extended the club’s unbeaten run in Champions League to seven straight matches, dating back to the 2012-2013 tournament when RSL narrowly missed advancing out of the Group Stage with a 2-1-1 record.
Tigres topped Group B with a 2-0-2 record, going unbeaten against Herediano from Costa Rica and Isidiro Metapan from El Salvador. This is the second time Tigres has played in Champions League since the restructuring of the tournament in 2008 and second time they went unbeaten in the Group Stage. In the club’s only prior appearance, Tigres fell 3-2 to Seattle Sounders FC in the Quarterfinal Round in 2013.
In the club’s third ever Champions League appearance, RSL is making its second appearance in the Quarterfinal Round. In 2011, the Claret-and-Cobalt became the first MLS team to reach the Champions League final, topping the Columbus Crew of MLS in the quarterfinal and Saprissa from Costa Rica in the semifinal before falling to Monterrey from Mexico.
RSL is joined in the quarterfinals by D.C. United, the LA Galaxy and Seattle Sounders FC from MLS and Tigres, Santos Laguna, Queretaro and Club America from Mexico. Each quarterfinal series If Salt Lake advances to the semifinals, it will face the winner in the series between D.C. United and Queretaro.
2015-2016 SCOTIABANK CONCACAF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTERFINAL SEEDING
1. Club América (MEX) 3-0-1, 10 pts, +7 GD
2. D.C. United (USA) 3-0-1, 10 pts, +6 GD
3. Real Salt Lake (USA) 3-0-1, 10 pts, +3 GD
4. Santos Laguna (MEX) 3-1-0, 9 pts, +9 GD
5. LA Galaxy (USA) 2-0-2, 8 pts, +9 GD
6. Tigres UANL (MEX) 2-0-2, 8 pts, +2 GD
7. Querétaro (MEX) 2-1-1, 7 pts, +9 GD
8. Sounders FC (USA) 2-1-1, 7 pts, +3 GD
