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Clásico Regiomontano is a football derby in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, Mexico, between rival teams Monterrey and UANL.

Since the first Clásico in 1974, the two teams have competed 89 times for bragging rights and city honour. ^[1] The match is the biggest game of the season in Monterrey, and every year fans wait in line for days outside the stadium just to get tickets, which are often priced at two or three times their regular value.^[2][3]

In March 31, 2002, Televisa reported that this match generates the same amount of revenue for ticket sales and subsidiary products as the National Derby between Club América and Club Deportivo Guadalajara. This is despite the fact that both Rayados and Tigres play in far smaller stadiums than either America's Estadio Azteca or Guadalajara's Estadio Jalisco,^[4] and also despite the fact that the Clásico Regiomontano involves teams from only one city, while the National derby involves teams from two more populated cities (Mexico City and Guadalajara).^[5] Even when the match does not generate a lot of expectation in national environment, Monterrey has a higher median income than people in Guadalajara and Mexico City, and the fans are more passionate than in other places. Some speculate that if Tigres or Rayados had a bigger stadium, this could be the biggest game in the Nation.

In 35 years and 89 games of heated Tigres has won 33 games, while Rayados 30. The teams have tied on 25 occasions, with one game being suspended.

Record

G = Games Played; W = Won; T = Tied; L = Lost; GF = Goals in Favor; GA = Goals Against; Dif = Goal Difference

• Clásico 28 was suspended without result

Historical Results

Notable Clásicos

• Clásico 1 ^[1] on July 13, 1974. The first Clásico Regiomontano was the first game Tigres played in the First Division, and resulted in a tie. Result: Tigres 3-3 Rayados.

• Clásico 12 and 13 ^[1][6] on June 6, and June 16, 1979. This was the first time that Tigres and Rayados met on play-offs. In the 1978-1979 league playoffs where played in an elimination "group-stage" format, in which, after league elimination, two groups of four teams where formed and the leader of each group advanced to the Final. Tigres and Rayados where in Group 2, along with Pumas and Zacatepec. Both games where played in the Estadio Universitario. Tigres won Clásico 12 with a goal by Mantegazza at the 18th minute. Clásico 13 ended with a draw by 1-1, in which Rayados' Raúl Isiordia scored first, at the 8th minute, only to be tied at the 40th by Gerónimo Barbadillo. With these results, Tigres managed to tie first place with Pumas, but did not qualify to the final due to goal difference.

• Clásico 51 on March 24, 1996. Tigres had three very bad seasons,^[7] as a result of governmental corruption (Tigres were then government-owned). It was a done deal that Tigres would be relegated to Primera División A, but to confirm it, they only needed to lose one more game. The last game in which Tigres saw that remote possibility was the Clásico, in which with goals by Sergio "El Pibe" Verdirame and Luis Miguel Salvador, Monterrey won by 2-1, eliminating any hope of permanence.^[8] The Tigres disaster resulted in a series of reforms that saw the team privatized^[9], and returning to First Division within the year^[10].

• Clásico 61 on February 26, 2000."¡Clasicazo!", El Norte February 27, 2000, was this one in which Tigres routed Rayados 6-3. The game started with a very offensive Tigres side who scored four goals very rapidly. Soon, Rayados issued its talent and almost managed to tie the game, scoring three goals, only to be overwhlemed the rest of the night and losing 6-3. A technicality occurred^[11] (the registry of one Tigres player had problems), and the game, and two others, had to be re-matched on the league (the other Clásico, #62, ended 0-0). The Rayados insistence of a re-match was greatly condemned by the Tigres coach, who said Rayados "had other interests", particularly noting that one of the presumably affected teams, Toluca, refused to replay their match^[12].

• Clásico 71 and 72 The "4 a 1" on June 4 and June 7, 2003. This was the first time that Tigres and Rayados met on semi-finals. Both teams were favorites to claim the League playoffs, and it was expected that whoever won would have been champion. Tigres started the first game well, scoring very early 1-0. However, a series of defensive mistakes by Tigres combined with powerful offensive football by Rayados to end the match at 4-1^[13]. As the game ended, then Tigres striker Kléber failed to score a penalty kick, and the game was thus named by the media as "¡Klébergüenza!", a combination of the name Kléber, and the phrase "¡Qué Vergüenza!" or "¡What a shame!". The next match, Rayados scored early, but Tigres managed to score two. Tigres won the second match 2-1, but it wasn't enough, and Rayados eliminated Tigres, qualified for the final, and claimed their second title in their 57-year history.

• Clásico 75 In this clasico held the 21st of August 2004, Tigres won 6-2 in the Universitario Stadium. This was one of the greatest clasicos ever because of the amount of goals Tigres scored to Monterrey. There were many declarations in the previous week by Monterrey coach Miguel Herrera, he kept on saying that Monterrey would win the game with a huge amount of goals, but he actually got those goals, from Tigres. He also got thrown out of the game. The match MVP was Walter Gaitan along with Nestor Silvera, both scored 2 goals for their cause. This game has served as revenge for Tigres fans to the Rayados fans that said that the clasico 61 did not count.

• Clásico 78 and 79 on December 7, and December 10, 2005. Rayados, again, made it to the final, but without such a clear-cut victory as in the last Clásico Semi-Final. Tigres qualified to the semifinals just barely after an unexpected, but quite explosive, quarter-final beating of America. The surprise continued, and Tigres was victorious in the first game (Clásico 78) 1-0 in the Estadio Universitario. For the second game, Rayados won 2-1, Defender Claudio Suárez saw the red card in a play that gave Rayados a penalty and the goal lead. Rayados defeated Tigres with a miracle goal by Guillermo "El Guille" Franco as the game was ending and sent Rayados to the finals.

• Clásico 80 on January 15, 2006. The game took place for the first time outside of Monterrey and it was the first time both teams faced each other in a final.The winner of the game would qualify to Copa Libertadores.Rayados made the first goal by surprise at the 2nd minute by Ricardo Martinez. Tigres for the rest of the first half struggled to tie the game but instead tied at the 69th minute by Walter Gaitan.Because of the tie that couldn't be broken at the second half both teams had to play extra time when Tigres midfield Jaime Lozano made the winning goal at the beginning of the extra time. At the end of the game Tigres won Interliga 2006 beating rayados 2-1 and qualified to Copa Libertadores.

Notable players

Most Appearances

• 27, Jesús Arellano is the Rayados player with most Clásicos played.^{[14 ]}
• 26, "El Jefe" Tomás Boy is the Tigres player with most Clásicos played.^{[14 ]}
• 25, Carlos Muñoz played for Tigres.^{[14 ]}
• 20, Javier Saavedra played for Tigres.^{[14 ]}
• 17, Antonio Sancho played for Tigres.^{[14 ]}
• 17, Gerónimo Barbadillo played for Tigres.^{[14 ]}
• 17, Sergio Orduña played for Tigres.^{[14 ]}
• 16, Francisco Javier "El Abuelo" Cruz is one of the few players to be successful with both Tigres and Rayados.^{[14 ]}
• 16, José Pilar Reyes also played with both Tigres and Rayados, though he is mostly remembered for his participation with Tigres.^{[14 ]}

Most Goals

• 11, Mario de Souza Mota "Bahía" is the greatest scorer in the history of the Clasicos. He played for Rayados.
• 8, Walter Gaitán Tied as the best scorer for Tigres in the history of Clásicos.^[15]
• 8, Claudio "El Diablo" Nuñez Tied as the best scorer for Tigres in the history of the Clásico.^[15]

Other Famous Players

• Carlos Hermosillo, played for Rayados for a short while.
• Claudio Suárez, the most capped International player defended Tigres' defense.
• Emil Kostadinov, played only one Clásico, but scored two goals that gave Tigres their victory.
• Jorge Campos, defended for a short while Tigres's goal.
• Luis "El Matador" Hernandez. He was the first player to have scored with both teams.
• Sebastián "El Loco" Abreu. He was the only foreign player (born in Uruguay) to have scored with both teams.
• Gaston Fernandez, He scored on clasico 89 to become the second foreign player to have scored with both teams
• Aldo de Nigris Became the first player to have scored first with tigres in a clasico, and then with rayados. Other players had scored first with the rayados jersey and then with tigres'. He is also he first player that was born in the city of Monterrey to score for both teams.

Notable coaches

• Carlos Miloc, . He coached Tigres.

Otto Gloria coach of Portugal national team in the 60s Ignacio Jauregui

References