Paulinho’s brace secures Toluca’s place in the Champions Cup semifinals
Paulinho’s brace secures Toluca’s place in the Champions Cup semifinals
CARSON, Calif.—The 2026 Concacaf Champions Cup began on Wednesday with Deportivo Toluca FC defeating LA Galaxy 3–0 in the second leg of their quarterfinals series, 5–2 on aggregate, at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California, USA.
Toluca scored in the 10th minute with a long-range shot from Jesús Gallardo to the upper left corner. Franco Romero provided an assist on the play.
Paulinho extended the visitors’ advantage in the 58th minute. Nicolás Castro freed up Helinho on the right, and he produced a threaded pass for Paulinho to slot the ball away from the left side of the box.
Paulinho added another for Toluca in the 64th minute, this time with a chip over the goalkeeper to capitalize on Castro’s through play. The goal increased the Portuguese forward’s tally to six, tying him for the top scorer award.
Toluca FC has advanced to the Concacaf Champions Cup semifinals for the sixth time in its history. The defending Liga MX champion will meet Los Angeles FC in the semi-finals.
They are the eighth different Liga MX team to reach the final four in the competition’s last four editions.
Toluca has scored multiple goals in six consecutive Concacaf Champions Cup matches dating back to the 2024 edition, equaling the longest such streak in the competition’s modern era (since 2008) and matching Cruz Azul’s run of six consecutive games with two or more goals from August to October 2009.
Toluca’s Jesús Gallardo scored the first goal of the Concacaf Champions Cup season, extending his total to three. He is the only defender to have scored multiple goals during the tournament.
This was Toluca’s third time scoring three goals away from home in the Concacaf Champions Cup. The first came in 2009 against D.C. United (3-1) and the second in 2013 against Caledonia AIA of Trinidad & Tobago (5-1).
Maya Yoshida completed 77 of 81 passes (95.1%) tonight for the 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 tournament since at least the 2016-17 season.
This is the second time Toluca has won a Concacaf Champions Cup match despite lacking possession since at least the 2013-14 season. Los Diablos Rojos averaged 43% possession against the LA Galaxy tonight, compared to 47.1% versus Alajuelense in 2014.
Paulinho scored five goals in two quarterfinal legs against LA Galaxy, becoming only the second player since the 2016-17 season to score at least five goals in a single knockout round of the Concacaf Champions Cup, following Gabriel Pec of LA Galaxy in the Round of 16 against Mount Pleasant earlier this year.