The Columbus Crew traveled to Monterrey and again walked out with a win. The Black & Gold muted Estadio BBVA with a spectacular performance and booked a ticket to the CONCACAF Champions Cup Final after smashing Rayados 3-1 (5-2 on aggregate) at their home Wednesday evening.

The Crew enjoyed an electric start and found some spaces to test Rayados’ goalkeeper Esteban Andrada.

Forward Cucho Hernandez had a long-distance shot in the first minute that went slightly wide.

However, things turned tough when unexpectedly Rayados hit first in the 10^th minute. Midfielder Maxi Meza controlled a long pass and put it over Crew’s goalkeeper Patrick Schulte. His shot came off the crossbar, but defender Yevhen Cheberko couldn’t slow his pace and tallied an own goal to give the hosts an early lead.

Despite the situation, the MLS champions kept composure and possession of the ball for the next few minutes but could not find open spaces and hurt Rayados.

In the 19^th minute, a late run by midfielder Luis Romo into the box almost extended the Monterrey lead, but the header went just above the crossbar.

By that time of the game, Rayados’ pressure forced Crew to go back deep in the field and turn over the ball.

Following a long time with little to no action, Andrada’s huge mistake opened a window for the Crew.

In the fourth minute of added time in the first half, after catching a crossed ball, Andrada succumbed to the crowd’s pressure and gave the ball to the wrong teammate.

Morris was paying more attention than anyone else on the field and quickly won the challenge to get possession of the ball and score the equalizer before going to halftime.

The crowd was not even back to their seats when the Black & Gold scored the second goal. Forward Diego Rossi collected a pass from Alex Matan and slotted the ball to the right of the diving goalkeeper to increase the lead. Rayados desperately looked for a quick response but never couldn’t mount an answer to the knockout blow.

In the 61st minute, following a bad deflection by Schulte from a crossed ball, defender Gerardo Arteaga caught the rebound, but his shot hit the outside of the net.

After the second goal, Crew played out from the back, burned time and made it a point to slow down the game.

After a series of wrong deflections and unfortunate rebounds for the Crew, Rayados almost had the equalizer in the 67^th minute, but defender Yaw Yeboah stopped the ball on the goal line.

For the rest of the game, Rayados tried several times with crossed balls, but all the headers ended up in Schulte’s hands, who saved the Crew on multiple occasions without conceding a rebound.

Forward German Berterame had his chance in the 70^th minute and Brandon Vazquez had his header one minute later, but neither was successful.

When the game was almost over, midfielder Derrick Jones, who was subbed in by Aidan Morris minutes earlier, recovered a key ball in the middle. He found Matan who moved the ball on to a fresh Russell-Rowe for the final goal of the match.

Christian Ramirez was fouled in the last moments of play by Andrada, and after a quick VAR review, a penalty kick was called.

Andrada guessed Ramirez’s shot and saved the attempt as the final whistle blew.

Columbus Crew took on two of the most important teams in Mexico and made their way to the CONCACAF Champions final. The team heads back to Columbus to prepare for a clash against FC Cincinnati on May 11th.