Paulinho brace seals Toluca’s spot in Champions Cup Semifinals | OneFootball

CARSON, Calif. – The 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup continued with Deportivo Toluca FC earning a 3-nil victory over LA Galaxy in the Second Leg of their Quarterfinals series, winning 5-2 on aggregate, on Wednesday at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California, USA.

Toluca opened the scoring in the 10’ with a Jesús Gallardo thunderbolt from long-range to the top left corner. Franco Romero posted the assist on the play. 

Paulinho doubled the advantage for the visitors in the 58’. Nicolás Castro freed up Helinho down the right, where he played a threaded pass for Paulinho to slot the ball away from the left side of the box.

Paulinho added another for Toluca in the 64’, this time with a chip over the goalkeeper to capitalize on a through ball from Castro. The goal took the Portuguese forward’s tally to six to tie the lead for the Top Scorer Award.

The result sees Toluca FC advance to the Concacaf Champions Cup Semifinals for the sixth time in tournament history. The defending Liga MX champion will face Los Angeles FC in the Semifinals.

Post– Match Data

Toluca have reached the Concacaf Champions Cup semifinals for the first time since the 2013-14 edition. They are the seventh different Liga MX team to reach the final four across the last four editions of the competition.

Toluca have scored multiple goals in six straight Concacaf Champions Cup matches dating back to the 2024 edition, equaling the longest such streak in the modern era of the competition (since 2008), matching Cruz Azul’s run of six consecutive matches with two or more goals from August to October 2009.

Jesús Gallardo (Toluca) opened the scoring, bringing his total to three goals in this season’s Concacaf Champions Cup. He is the only defender to have scored multiple goals in the tournament.

This marked the third time Toluca have scored three goals away from home in the Concacaf Champions Cup. The first came in 2009 at D.C. United (3-1), and the second in 2013 against Caledonia AIA of Trinidad and Tobago (5-1).

Maya Yoshida completed 77 of 81 passes (95.1%) tonight for LA Galaxy. He has completed 95.6% of his passes (391 of 409) in this season’s Concacaf Champions Cup, the highest completion rate by any player to attempt 250 or more passes in a single edition of the tournament since at least the 2016-17 season.

This is the second time Toluca have won a match despite losing the possession battle in the Concacaf Champions Cup since at least the 2013-14 edition. Tonight, Los Diablos Rojos averaged 43% possession against LA Galaxy, while in 2014 they recorded 47.1% possession against Alajuelense.

Paulinho scored five goals across the two quarterfinal legs against LA Galaxy, becoming the second player since the 2016-17 season to score at least five goals in a single knockout round of the Concacaf Champions Cup, joining LA Galaxy’s Gabriel Pec, who achieved the feat in the Round of 16 against Mount Pleasant earlier in this year’s competition.