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SALT LAKE CITY – In the past two weeks, Real Salt Lake have defeated two Lions.
He could not overthrow a third – the man who has dubbed the "Lion", Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Swedish superstar himself.
Ibrahimovic scored the winning goal about 12 minutes from time and LA Galaxy maintained a 2-1 win over Real Salt Lake at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, CA.
Uriel Antuna of Los Angeles and Donny Toia of RSL each scored a goal, the first of the season in both cases.
"We definitely had the energy in the second half," said Toia, his first MLS goal since 2015. "If we could do that from the start, that would be great, but I thought we had it. well done, kept them in front of us.
"There is not much more to say, we could have gotten a result, but we did not do it."
When the Galaxy (7-1-1, 22 points) hit first, he had not gone through their global superstar.
Instead, Antuna scored his first career goal in the MLS, ending a long game built with Ibrahimovic and passing through Diego Polenta and Chris Pontius before finding the back of the net in the 16th minute.
It was the Galaxie's first shot at the goal of the match and the first official shot at goal on both sides. RSL's Sam Johnson had already had the opportunity to convert a pass from Kyle Beckerman, but the Liberian international was called offside.
LA was playing for the third time in eight days, including a 0-0 draw at Minnesota United last Wednesday. But the Galaxy was at home and looked completely attacker – comfortable and confident – in the first period, controlling nearly 63% of the hands.
The Galaxy scored a goal in Salt Lake (3-5-1, 10 points) in the first 45 minutes of play, surpassing the visitors 8-4 before half-time.
Despite the offensive slugfest, RSL goaltender Andrew Putna made three saves in the first half to keep the game tight. The second-year MLS professional started for the second time in a row, while Nick Rimando was recovering from an injury that also prevented him from training in the 3-0 win of the week. last at FC Cincinnati.
Real Salt Lake was lucky to get one. Damir Kreilach's shot coming out just outside the box in the 54th minute.
The visitors finished the game by beating the Galaxy 22-11, with six shots each.
But the equalizer waited until the 64th minute.
After Galaxy goaltender David Bingham escaped the wall, Toia – the left-back who made his third consecutive start – was in the right place at the right time, slipping home a well-placed center to tie the match to 1 -1 with 25 minutes left.
RSL homegrown scored for the second time in seven years in the MLS and for the first time in Real Salt Lake uniform after leaving the club in 2011.
"Donny had a great goal," said RSL coach Mike Petke at the post-match broadcast on KMYU and KSL.com. "We've been talking about it all week, encouraging our backs to get more involved in the attack, obviously it's easier when you're close to a goal, but I want to see more of it." departure.
"In addition to their goal, we have limited many things we have worked on all week."
But the draw only lasted 14 minutes. That's when the Lion himself completed a pass near Sebastian Lletget's goal to give the Galaxy a 2-1 lead in the 78th minute.
Ibrahimovic, who had already received a yellow card for a previous showdown with RSL defender Nedum Onuoha, then tore Onuoha as the hosts took the lead in the last 10 minutes.
"We had to put pressure on them, force them to make mistakes and keep getting into the opposing half," said Toia. "We knew we had opportunities in the first half and we would have some in the second half.
"Then we went out for a second and it cost us a goal."
Zlatan in the locker room (visitors)
After the match, Ibrahimovic went to talk with Onuoha in the locker room.
The cloakroom of the visitor, that is to say. The Galaxy superstar was escorted out of the RSL locker room by a Galaxy representative, while RSL staff members were standing nearby. After a heated exchange, no further contact or new confrontation seems to have occurred.
"Everyone is impressed by Zlatan because he has an essential base. You talk about footballers, charismatic players, talented and unbelievable, Zlatan is at the top of the list, "said Petke, admitting that he was biting his tongue after being seen fining him for dissent. after match these last two seasons. "Why should it be otherwise for the league in general of admiration?"
Onuoha told RSL journalist Samantha Yarock that Ibrahimovic had entered to "try to apologize" after the match, but the former central defender of the Premier League did not want to receive apologize after the game.
"He came to apologize because after 60 minutes he said that he was going to hurt me and that he was going to hurt me," Onuoha said. "If anyone comes forward to apologize, it does not bother me, I will not accept (the excuses), leave it on the ground."
"I just told him to go out."
Next up
Real Salt Lake will return to Rio Tinto Stadium on Saturday to host the Portland Timbers. The kickoff is scheduled for 19h. on KMYU and KSL.com.
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