Clásico Regiomontano

Clásico Regiomontano, Clásico Regio, Clásico del Norte or Clásico Norteño is a

In August 2018, Monterrey and Tigres had the most expensive squads in Liga MX.^[4]

Record

MP = Matches Played; W = Wins; D = Draws; L = Losses; GF = Goals for; GA = Goals against; Dif = Goal Difference

• Clásico 28 was suspended without result.

Historical results

Notable Clásicos

• Clásico 1.^[1] The first Clásico Regiomontano. 13 July, 1974 saw the first game Tigres played in the First Division with Monterrey, and resulted in a tie. Result: Tigres 3–3 Rayados.
• Clásico 2. The first victory went to Monterrey, with a score of 2–1. Nilo Acuna scored at the 44th and Alfredo Jimenez at the 89th minute. Tigres’ rather late goal was made by Alberto Rodriguez at the 92nd minute.
• Clásico 12 and 13.^[1][6] The first Clásico in the playoffs. With the first leg on 6 June, and the second leg on 16 June 1979, Tigres and Rayados met in the playoffs for the first time, although this was not a direct elimination instance. In the 1978–79 season, league playoffs were played in an elimination "group-stage" format, in which, after league elimination, two groups of four teams were formed and the leader of each group advanced to the final. Tigres and Rayados were in Group 2, along with Pumas and Zacatepec. Both games were played in the Estadio Universitario. Tigres won Clásico 12 with a goal by Mantegazza at the 18th minute. Clásico 13 ended with a draw by 1–1, in which Rayados' Raúl Isiordia scored first, at the 8th minute, only to be tied at the 40th by Gerónimo Barbadillo. With these results, Tigres managed to tie for first place with Pumas on the group leaderboard, but were not able to qualify to the final due to goal difference.
• Clasico 23. Rayados wins after six years. On 17 September 1983, Rayados defeated Tigres at their stadium after six years without winning, since 5 February 1977. Tigres held at the time what was the longest undefeated streak in these Clásicos.
• Clásico 51. What is known as the “Relegation Clásico”. Tigres had three poor seasons, being one of the worst teams in Mexico.
  Primera División A, but to confirm it, they only needed to lose one more game. Contrary to popular belief, Tigres was already in Primera A even if it won this game, as the results for it to stay depended on a different game, and no matter the result of the clasico, they were already relegated to Primera A, with goals by Sergio "El Pibe" Verdirame and Luis Miguel Salvador
  , Monterrey won with a score of 2–1.
• Clasico 61. Run over Rayados with six goals. On 26 February 2000, Tigres visited Rayados at their stadium. Tigres outplayed Monterrey and scored six goals. Rayados claimed that there was an irregularity with the signature on the contract of
  Osmar Donizete
  . The game was eventually annulled.
• Clásico 71 . The "4 a 1". On 4 June 2003, was the first time that Tigres and Rayados met in the playoff semifinals. There was a sense that whoever won this semifinal would have been the favourite for the championship. Tigres started the first game well, scoring very early 1–0, but 4 unanswered goals by Rayados turned the tide in the game and in the Semifinals.
• Clásico 75 . Six goals again. Tigres visited Rayados and humiliated them in their own stadium with a score of 6–2. Tigres scored 6 goals in a derby for the second time.
• Clásico 79. Another semifinal encounter. Tigres was victorious in the first game (Clásico 78) 1–0 in the Estadio Universitario. For the second game, Rayados won 2–1, Defender Claudio Suárez saw the red card in a play that gave Rayados a penalty and the goal lead. Rayados defeated Tigres with a goal by Guillermo "El Guille" Franco as the game neared the 90 minute mark. This was the 2nd time in which Rayados advanced to the championship final games at the expense of Tigres.
• Clásico 80. It was the first time that a Clásico Regio was played outside the country. In the finals of the Interliga 2006, held at the
  Home Depot Center in Carson, California
  , Tigres defeated Monterrey by 2–1.
• Clásico 99. Rayados defeats Tigres for the third time in direct-elimination playoffs. Tigres finished the regular season as the leader with 35 points and only 2 defeats in the regular season. One of their two defeats was against Monterrey at Clasico 97. Initially, Monterrey did not qualify for the playoffs, ending the regular season in the ninth place.
  Israel Jimenez scored an own goal
  that tied the game 1–1, for an aggregate of 2–1 that would send Tigres packing.
• Clásico 100. The 100th edition of the Clásico Regiomontano. Tigres painfully lost the Clásico 99 by way of an own goal of
  Israel Jimenez and was eliminated from the playoffs by Monterrey. Because of these woes, Tigres was eager for a chance to redeem themselves. Both teams started aggressive but Tigres had the first chance and a young Alan Pulido scored a header which would set the score to 1–0 after a long pass by Jesús Dueñas. After a mistake by Hugo Ayala, Humberto Suazo tied the game 1–1. Pulido scored again to make it 2–1 for Tigres. In the second half, Tigres controlled the game and captain Lucas Lobos
  scored the final 3–1, effectively getting their redemption after losing in the playoffs.
• Clásico 101. Quarterfinals at the Copa MX. After a 0–2 lead for Tigres at the end of the first half, César Delgado entered as a substitute and turned things around for Monterrey by making it 1–2 and assisting the goal that levelled the score on the 93rd minute—a dramatic header from Luis Madrigal. This forced penalty kicks without extra time, as per Copa MX rules. Rayados scored 4 out of 4 penalty kicks. Tigres' first shot was held by Rayados' goalkeeper Juan de Dios Ibarra, and Manuel Viniegra hit the crossbar on their last shot for a final score of 4–2 for Monterrey.^[8]
• Clásico 115. 2017 saw the first ever Clasico Regiomontano league final in the Apertura 2017. Tigres and Rayados would tie 1–1 in Tigres home stadium thanks to an early goal by Nicolás Sánchez and a Panenka from Enner Valencia. In the second leg, Rayados played against Tigres in their home stadium, the Estadio BBVA having never been beaten at home since Tigres beat them 2–0 in the quarterfinals of the 2017 Clasura playoffs. An early goal by Dorlan Pabon would be irrelevant as Tigres would score twice thanks to goals by Eduardo Vargas and Francisco Meza. The game would end 1–2 with Tigres winning 3–2 aggregate and winning their sixth Liga MX championship as well as bragging rights in the first ever Clasico Regiomontano finals.
• Clásico 119 & 120. The Clasico Regiomontano goes global. This was the first Clasico Regiomontano played in an international tournament,
  CONCACAF Champions League
  title and prevented Tigres from winning the CONCACAF Champions League for the third time after losing the 2015–16 and 2016–17 editions to Club América and Pachuca respectively. Tigres would finally go on to win the CONCACAF Champions League in 2020, whilst Monterrey is still credited as the first winner of the derby in an international tournament.
• Clásico 131. Facing off in another Liguilla tie, Tigres won on the road 1-0 in the 2nd leg of the semifinals on May 20, 2023 thanks to a Sebastián Córdova goal late in the 2nd half. This gave Tigres a 2-1 aggregate victory to advance to the 2023 Clausura final, where they ultimately defeated Chivas to win their 8th league crown. It was a surprsing victory for Tigres, as that season was defined by multiple managerial changes and Rayados had just come off an impressive regular season where they finished top of the standings with a record 40 points.
• Clásico 132. In the first Clásico played in the United States since 2010, the two sides faced off in the round of 16 of the 2023 Leagues Cup at Shell Energy Stadium. In a tense match, Rayados would ultimately come away victorious thanks to a penalty kick goal from new arrival Sergio Canales late in second-half stoppage time following a lengthy and controversial VAR review.
• Clásico 133. In their first league meeting of the 2023-24 campaign, Tigres handily defeated Rayados 3-0 at Estadio Universitario. André-Pierre Gignac would become the all-time leading scorer in Clasico Regiomontano history, scoring twice to bring his tally in the debry to 12 goals.

Notable players

Most appearances

• 27, Jesús Arellano, Rayados player with the most Clásicos played and the best regiomontano in history.^[9]
• 26, "El Jefe" Tomás Boy, Tigres player with the most Clásicos played.^[9]
• 16, Francisco Javier "El Abuelo" Cruz, one of the few players to be successful with both Tigres and Rayados.^[9]

Most goals

• 12, André-Pierre Gignac, leading goalscorer for Tigres and the whole derby.
• 11,
  Mario de Souza Mota "Bahía"
  , leading goalscorer for Monterrey.
• 8, Walter Gaitán, “El Chueco”^[10]
• 8,
  Claudio "El Diablo" Nuñez

Other famous players

• Luis "El Matador" Hernandez, the first player to have scored with both teams, first with Monterrey.^{[citation needed]}
• Sebastián "El Loco" Abreu, the first foreign player (born in Uruguay) to have scored with both teams, first with Rayados and most known in Rayados.^{[citation needed]}
• Gaston Fernandez, the second foreign player (born in Argentina
  ) to have scored with both teams, first with Rayados.
• Aldo de Nigris, the first player to have scored first with Tigres in a derby and then with Rayados. He is also the first player that was born in the city of Monterrey to score for both teams.
• Luis Rodríguez, the first player ever to become champion with both teams. Chaka first became champion of Liga MX with Monterrey in 2010 with few games played. With Tigres has won Liga MX
  in 2016 and 2017.

• Carlos Miloc, managed Tigres and never lost an official Clásico Regiomontano for a total of 13 undefeated games
• CONCACAF Champions League
  thrice.
• Ricardo Ferretti, “El Tuca”, former player for Monterrey in the 86–87 season, and former manager of Tigres in three different periods: 2000–2003, 2006 and 2010–2021. His third tenureship has been his most successful winning five Liga MX titles (Apertura 2011, Apertura 2015, Apertura 2016, Apertura 2017 and Clausura 2019) and three campeón de campeones titles (2016, 2017, 2018)
• competition final
  against a Tigres team led by Ferretti.

References