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. On 29 July, in the first leg of the finals against River Plate, the teams tied by 0–0 at the Estadio Universitario. Tigres lost by 3–0 in the second leg at the Estadio Monumental on 5 August.