In 2023, criticism about his age pushed striker Andre-Pierre Gignac to new heights.
He kicked off the 2023 LigaMX Clausura season with an opening day goal and a celebration aimed at his doubters. Hunched over with one hand clamped to his lower back, the Frenchman mimicked the gait of an old man leaning on an imaginary cane.
The Tigres legend has made a habit of confounding the doubters. He capped off that campaign with another landmark strike – this one from the penalty spot – to launch an epic comeback against Chivas in the grand final, helping secure his fifth league title in Mexico.
Over a decade since Gignac’s decision to trade Marseille for Mexico, the Frenchman has scored more than 200 goals and helped Tigres secure five league titles. Having been written off year after year, the Frenchman continues to defy the odds by scoring goals in pivotal moments.
His arrival catapulted the trajectory of the club from regional heavyweight to consistent title contender. Before Gignac's arrival, Tigres had only been crowned Mexican top-flight champions three times. Now, they consistently go toe to toe with the country's most successful sides.
Boasting clinical finishing skills and an imposing physique that renders him a handful for even the gnarliest defenders, the veteran is undoubtedly among the finest foreign players ever to grace the Mexican game. A cult hero even.
In these early days, it was impossible to anticipate the impact Gignac would have and the love affair he would share with the Mexican league. Not even his or Tigres’ staunchest supporters could have foreseen that he would go on to shatter every goalscoring record in the club’s history. The Frenchman has become the all-time top scorer in the Monterrey derby against Rayados and has emerged as the European poster boy for a competition that has gradually established itself as a premier destination for international stars looking to leave a lasting footprint.
“I had offers in Europe, but I needed something new, somewhere far away, and along came Tigres... Mexico,” the target man confessed a couple of years ago in an interview with TUDN. While those on the other side of the Atlantic deemed it a risky move, he had a hunch that it was a match made in heaven.
With Gignac leading the line, the Monterrey-based club won the 2020 instalment of the Concacaf Champions League and subsequently finished as runners-up at the FIFA Intercontinental Cup™, the best showing ever by a Concacaf club. The 36-time France international was the top scorer on that global stage, netting three goals, although he drew a blank in the final, in which Bayern Munich edged to a 1-0 victory.
In one of the first photographs taken after he landed in Monterrey, Gignac smiled as he held up a plaque that sealed the deal: “100% Tigre”. Countless promises have been made about loyalty to club colours but, unlike many others, the 40-year-old can genuinely speak of having forged a deep bond with a passionate fan base that fills the Estadio Universitario whatever the weather.
The Felinos faithful have adopted the striker as one of their own in true Mexican fashion, even nicknaming him after the popular song Bomboro Quiñá Quiñá by Sonora Santanera (because “Quiñá” sounds like the Mexican pronunciation of the attacker’s surname). Gignac is so thoroughly at home in Monterrey that, just a few days ago, he stepped out to hand out slices of pizza outside the restaurant he will soon be opening in the capital of Nuevo Leon.
This Saturday, Tigres go head-to-head with Toluca for glory, with the winners set to qualify not just for this year’s FIFA Intercontinental Cup but also for the next edition of the . For Gignac, it is an to scoop his 13th title since swapping France for Mexico.
Whether he starts on the bench or comes on as a substitute, the match will be a momentous occasion for Gignac, especially since no one knows how many more great nights El Bomboro has left in blue and gold. This could well be his last opportunity to add to his extensive legacy in Mexico.
Sources: FIFA Official
