28.02.2020 07:21 h

Olimpia rallies to stun Sounders in CONCACAF Champions League

Reigning MLS champion Seattle Sounders crashed out of the CONCACAF Champions League on Thursday, losing 4-2 in a shocking penalty shootout defeat to CD Olimpia.

Olimpia punched their ticket to their first quarter-finals as Carlos Pineda scored in the 86th minute to tie the game 2-2 and then the Honduran side closed the deal by scoring on all four shots in the shootout.

Pineda scored on an electrifying, skidding blast from well outside the penalty area.

Olimpia had never won a knockout round series before and they achieved it by ousting one of favourites on their side of the bracket.

The win advances Olimpia to face the Montreal Impact in the quarters, and sends the Sounders out of the event a round earlier than their most recent appearance in 2018.

The teams came into Thursday's second leg contest tied 2-2 on aggregate.

The CONCACAF Champions League is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF for the top football clubs in North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.

The winner of the CONCACAF Champions League automatically qualifies for the quarter-finals of the FIFA Club World Cup.

Olimpia hopes to follow in the footsteps of Saprissa, the last non-Mexican winner of the CONCACAF competition in 2005.

Just two teams from MLS -- Los Angeles Galaxy in 2000 and D.C. United in 1998 -- have ever lifted the Champion League title.