A fantastic opening round that saw eight teams that were relatively evenly matched face off against one another. with defensive battles and an offensive shootout. The teams that bowed out should all be proud of their performances in this stage despite the finality of he ultimate results.
(1) Monterrey 1, (8) Atlas 0 - On paper, this series shouldn’t have been close. Monterrey came into the Liguilla after setting all sorts of regular season records, notably for wins and points. Atlas was in by virtue of a better goal differential than Monarcas. Still, Atlas gave a fantastic account of themselves, holding Rayadas scoreless in the first leg and conceding only one goal in Monterrey.