CF Montreal confident of completing comeback against Cruz Azul in CCL

CF Montreal are looking to make a comeback against Liga MX side Cruz Azul during Wednesday’s Concacaf Champions League quarterfinal clash.

The Canadian side trail the series 1-0 on aggregate after succumbing to La Maquina at Estadio Azteca on March 9. Should Montreal manage the rebound, it would be their second of the international tournament. 

During their round of 16 series against Santos Laguna, Montreal managed a 3-0 victory in the second leg to make the global score 3-1 and secure their spot in the quarterfinals. 

Now, midfielder Djordje Mihailovic believes the team can do it again. 

"We proved that we can do it. Just because it's another name on the jersey that we're playing against, it's the same thing, it's a 1-0 loss in the first leg away," he said.

"It's an opponent, it's maybe a little bit different personality in the game, a different type of game, but we have to have the same mentality as we had in the second game against Santos.

"Right now the mentality is going to be most important: Do we want it? We proved in the second leg against Santos that we wanted it and we have to do that again tomorrow."

Despite a rocky start to the Concacaf Champions League and a winless 2022 campaign in Major League Soccer, head coach Wilfried Nancy is confident his team can power through. 

"The spirit is here. Yes, difficult week in terms of games but in terms of also travel, in terms of rest, practice and everything. So now we have this opportunity to play the quarterfinals and we want to write the story of the club," he said. "We have the luxury to play in the Champions League again and it's is a joy to play this competition.

"The last game against Santos was the last game against Santos, this is a new game now. New opponents, but the spirit is the same. The players are going to give everything and after that, It’s all about the execution. We wanted to do well the first half against Cruz Azul, the game away, but we had difficulties."

Should CF Montreal advance, they would face the winner of New England Revolution vs Pumas UNAM in the semifinals in early April.