MEXICO CITY, March 12 (Xinhua) -- Toluca kept their Liga MX Clausura title hopes alive on Sunday with a 4-1 home rout of 10-man Mazatlan.

Carlos Gonzalez gave the hosts the lead with a cool finish after a Jean Meneses through ball on the counter attack.

Mazatlan equalized through Nicolas Benedetti, who combined with Ake Loba before lashing an unstoppable long-range effort into the bottom left corner.

Mazatlan were reduced to 10 men in first-half stoppage time when Benedetti was shown a straight red card for a dangerous tackle on Marcel Ruiz.

Toluca capitalized immediately on the numerical advantage as Edgar Lopez latched onto Fernando Navarro's cross to head home on the stroke of halftime.

Maximiliano Araujo extended the lead by bundling home from close range just after the restart, and Camilo Sanvezzo put the result beyond doubt by firing a left-footed shot into the bottom right corner following Sebastian Saucedo's assist.

"When you end up winning by a big margin, it seems that everything is fine, that you played well, but I always try to keep my feet on the ground," Toluca manager Ignacio Ambriz said after the match.

"We lowered out intensity after the first goal and I told them not to stop because our opponents would not lie down."

Toluca are now second in the 18-team standings with 21 points from 11 outings, seven points behind leaders Monterrey. Mazatlan are last with just one win from 10 games. Enditem

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