Tigres UANL vs Necaxa Match Recap - Oct 18, 2025

Brunetta’s Hat Trick Headlines Tigres’ 5-3 Shootout, Necaxa Left Reeling as UANL Climb to Fifth

On a sultry Saturday night at Estadio Universitario, the goals came in waves—each one swelling the roar from the stands—until the scoreboard issued its wild verdict: Tigres UANL 5, Necaxa 3. As the Liga MX season barrels toward its final third, this eight-goal thriller offered football at its most unrestrained and, for Tigres, a step upward in both standings and confidence.

The script belonged to Juan Brunetta, who, with clinical assurance, bagged a first-half hat trick, turning a see-saw contest into a personal showcase and swinging the balance definitively in Tigres’ direction. Yet, the night was far more than an individual demonstration. It became a measure of each side's ambition and anxiety—the home team determined to keep pace with the elite, the visitors desperate to stem a slide that now seems inexorable.

Necaxa’s early intent was palpable. Undaunted by their status—seventeenth with wins scarce and pressure mounting—the visitors struck first. In the 18th minute, Tigres’ normally disciplined back line was pierced by a clever Necaxa incursion, the goal punctuating the shock and briefly quieting the crowd. But momentum, notoriously fickle in Liga MX, changed hands with ruthless speed.

Brunetta’s response was swift and emphatic. In the 24th minute, he drifted into space along the edge of the area, collected a sharp diagonal pass, and unleashed a low strike that whistled past Necaxa’s diving goalkeeper. The celebration had barely subsided before Brunetta found his second—this time in the 36th, pouncing on a loose ball after a frenetic scramble in the box, slotting home with poise.

Necaxa, to their credit, continued to punch above their position. Their persistence bore fruit as the first half closed: a well-worked move saw them level the score at 2-2 in the 45th minute, a microcosm of their dogged, if luckless, campaign.

But Brunetta simply would not be denied. In the final breath of the half, he completed his hat trick with a curling effort, restoring Tigres’ lead and restoring the thunder in the Universitario stands. For Tigres, there is a growing sense that as Brunetta goes, so goes the campaign; his sixth, seventh, and eighth goals in three games now place him among the league’s most dangerous men.

The second half opened with Necaxa searching for answers but finding only mounting pressure. In the 63rd, the returning Ángel Correa—ever mercurial, always impactful—capped a flowing counterattack, his finish from close range widening the gap to 4-2. The Argentine’s burst of quality seemed to extinguish Necaxa’s hopes, but the visitors conjured a lifeline. Ricardo Monreal’s 72nd-minute goal, a powerful header from a set piece, made it 4-3 and briefly roused the possibility of a dramatic turn.

Yet Tigres have become notorious for closing games with conviction, and as the clock ticked to the 88th minute, Diego Lainez delivered the dagger: a weaving run and a sharp finish, confirming three points and sending the home crowd into rapture.

The result extends Tigres’ unbeaten run to five, including impressive wins over Querétaro and Atlas and draws against Cruz Azul and Pumas. Sitting fifth in the table with 23 points from 12 matches (6 victories, 5 draws, only 1 loss), they now eye the top tier with genuine intention. Their attacking fluency is becoming a calling card, with Brunetta and Lainez emerging as twin pillars of this late-season surge.

Necaxa, by contrast, are mired in crisis. With just two wins from twelve and now four losses in their last five—including close but dispiriting defeats at Atlas and Chivas—their struggles on both ends of the pitch were exposed once more. Defensive frailty, so often their undoing, was again on display, and while the three goals offer a glimmer of attacking promise, the defensive wounds outweigh consolation.

The head-to-head between these sides in recent years has typically favored Tigres, and tonight’s performance did little to shift the narrative. For Necaxa, dropping further behind in the chase for playoff relevance, the gathering storm of relegation talk cannot be ignored.

As the Liga MX campaign tightens, Tigres will relish the attacking chemistry and resilience they displayed tonight, knowing that stiffer challenges await if silverware is to be considered a realistic target. For Necaxa, the long road ahead appears only steeper. Their next fixtures have become must-wins—not just for pride, but for a season now threatening to unravel entirely.