Saturday’s marquee Leagues Cup match between Tigres UANL and Inter Miami CF will feature arguably the two best teams – and the two best strikers – at the tournament.
A clash of legendary goal-scorers awaits as André-Pierre Gignac and Luis Suárez face off at Houston’s NRG Stadium (8 pm ET | Apple TV - MLS Season Pass).
Here’s how both icons measure up ahead of their highly-anticipated showdown.
- Career club goals: 486
- Career international goals (Uruguay): 69
- Golden Boots: 7
- League titles: 9
- International club titles: 3
Considered by many to be the greatest striker of his generation, Suárez has been scoring goals at an elite level for both club and country for nearly 20 years. The 37-year-old, a product of famed Uruguayan club Nacional, has also starred for Ajax, Liverpool, FC Barcelona, Atlético Madrid, Grêmio and, since 2024, Inter Miami.
Along the way, he’s been a Dutch Eredivisie, English Premier League and Spanish LaLiga Golden Boot winner; a five-time Spanish league champion; a UEFA Champions League winner; and a Copa América champion with Uruguay, among other distinctions.
Current Season
Suárez joined fellow Barça legends Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets and Jordi Alba to complete Miami’s “Big Four” over the winter.
He’s more than lived to expectations, producing 12g/5a in 18 league appearances to help guide the Herons to the Supporters’ Shield lead. Uruguay’s all-time leading scorer, Suárez added to his historic tally at this year’s Copa América, netting a late goal against Canada to force a PK shootout and help Los Charrúas capture third place at the tournament.
He’s kept the goals coming in Leagues Cup, sealing a 2-0 victory over LIGA MX’s Club Puebla as defending champions Miami got their title defense off to a winning start. Is there more to come against Tigres?
- Career club goals: 352
- Career international goals (France): 7
- Golden Boots: 6
- League titles: 5
- International club titles: 1
Quite possibly the most transformative LIGA MX signing in recent history, Gignac helped usher in a period of unparalleled success at Tigres upon his arrival in 2015 after stints in his native France with boyhood club FC Lorient, Pau and Toulouse.
In his first season in Mexico, Gignac helped Los Auriazules capture the Apertura crown and reach the Copa Libertadores final – missing the decisive 3-0 return leg loss at River Plate of Argentina after suffering an injury in the first leg.
Four more domestic titles followed for Gignac and Tigres, most recently the 2023 Clausura.
The former French international also led Tigres to the 2020 Concacaf Champions Cup title, earning a spot in that year’s FIFA Club World Cup. They fell just short of the title after dropping a heartbreaking 1-0 final loss to German Bundesliga titans Bayern Munich.
Current season
Four games into the 2024 LIGA MX Apertura, Tigres remain as strong a force as ever and are currently tied for first place with an undefeated 3W-0L-1D record (10 points). True to form, the club’s all-time leading scorer has contributed two tallies in those four matches.
Gignac also recently helped the LIGA MX All-Stars top their MLS counterparts last week in the 2024 MLS All-Star Game presented by Target, further distinguishing himself the night before in the MLS All-Star Skills Challenge presented by AT&T.
