On 8 April, Tigres received River Plate for a high-profile match in the Estadio Universitario. River Plate needed to win or tie to remain in the fight for a ticket to the next phase. At 11' Egidio Arévalo scored the 1-0 for Tigres. The team kept the match under control and at 68' Damián Alvarez scored the 2–0. After a defensive mistake from José Rivas and Hugo Ayala, Teofilo Gutierrez scored the 1–2 at 86' for River Plate. Rodrigo Mora scored the 2–2 at the 89'. On 15 April, Tigres played against Juan Aurich at the Estadio Elías Aguirre. Tigres, first place of the group and already qualified to the next phase, sent a reserve squad. The decision was heavily criticized by the Argentinian press, that stated that River Plate would not get to the second stage if Tigres lost against Juan Aurich. With a hat-trick of Enrique Esqueda, and goals of Dieter Villalpando and Jonathan Espericueta, Tigres won by 5–4, eliminating Juan Aurich. Tigres played the round of 16 against Universitario de Sucre. In the first leg, Tigres defeated Universitario by 2–1 with goals of Damián Álvarez and Enrique Esqueda. On 5 May, in the second leg, Tigres tied by 1–1 with goal of Sobis vía penalty-kick for an aggregate of 3-2 earning a ticket to quarterfinals. In the first leg of the quarterfinals, Tigres lost against Emelec by 1–0 at the Estadio Jocay. In the second leg at Estadio Universitario on 26 May, Tigres won by 2–0 with goals of Rafael Sóbis and José Rivas for an aggregate of 2-1 reaching semifinals against S.C. Internacional. On 15 July, Tigres lost the first leg of the semifinals at the Estádio Beira-Rio by 2–1 with goal of Hugo Ayala. In the second leg, on 22 July, Tigres defeated Internacional by 3–1 at the Estadio Universitario, with goals of André-Pierre Gignac, Egidio Arévalo and an own goal of Geferson. With an aggregate of 4–3, Tigres became the third Mexican team ever to reach the finals of the Copa Libertadores.