By Paul Nicholson
April 29 – The second leg of the CONCACAF Scotiabank Champions League final kicks off tonight in Montreal in front of a sell out crowd. Last week the first leg of the final between Club America and Montreal Impact ended even at 1-1 in front of an estimated 80,000+ spectators in Mexico City’s iconic Azteca Stadium.
If confirmed, the Azteca stadium crowd will be a record Champions League attendance, breaking the previous high of 66,702 set in the stadium only two weeks ago for the semi-final match-up against Costa Rica’s Herediano – which Club America won 6-0.
The final is evenly poised in Canada with the Montreal Impact having seen off extreme Club America pressure and a shot count of 28 to four against them before Oribe Perlata’s end of game goal that set up tonight’s decider.
But even before the result of the first leg was known the Impact were reporting a sell-out as they look to become the first Canadian and the first MLS side to win the conferation’s premier club competition since the Los Angeles Galaxy in 2000.
61,004 tickets have been sold for the match at the Olympic Stadium, topping Montreal Impact’s previous record of 58,912 for their inaugural MLS home opening match against the Chicago Fire in 2012.
“This is a new record for the club in terms of sales pace as we filled the stadium in less than two weeks, which is exceptional,” said Impact executive vice-president Richard Legendre.
Scotiabank, who are in the first six months of a 3.5 year major sponsorship of CONCACAF, could not have picked a better time to come on board commercially with the continental interest in football booming and records being set across the board for CONCACAF events and interest gathering pace for this summer’s Gold Cup in the US and Canada.
The final three attendances in this season’s Champions League will almost certainly fill the top three slots in the attendance record books for this competition. Three of the next highest attendance below them were set this season.
55,571: Impact de Montreal 2, Santos 0 February 23, 2009 (Stade Olympique)
47,658: Toronto FC 2, LA Galaxy 2 March 7, 2012 (Rogers Centre)
40,688: Club America 2, Saprissa 0 March 4, 2015 (Estadio Azteca)
38,104: Impact de Montreal 1, Pachuca 1 March 3, 2015 (Stade Olympique)
33,675: Impact de Montreal 2, Alajuelense 0 March 18, 2015 (Stade Olympique) … semifinals, 1st leg
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