Zlatan Ibrahimovic helped lift the LA Galaxy into third place in the Western Conference following a 2-1 win over the Montreal Impact Saturday night at Dignity Health Sports Complex.
Ibrahimovic initially pulled within a goal of Golden Boot presented by Audi leader Carlos Vela with the opening goal in the 31st minute before Vela maintained his two-goal edge with the late equalizer in LAFC's1-1 draw with Toronto FC.
Cristian Pavon started the sequence with chasing down a ball played long and cutting it back from the endline. Jonathan dos Santos ran onto it and fired a shot toward the net that first caromed off Uriel Antuna and then Ibrahimovic, who turned and fired in his 27th goal of the season from 8 yards out.
The goal was upheld following Video Review, which was used to determined if Pavon was in an offside position on the ball played behind.
Lassi Lappalainen leveled for the Impact in the 48th minute, latching onto a ball lofted behind the Galaxy defense by Saphir Taider and put his open header from nine yards out past David Bingham.
Two minutes later, though, the Galaxy went back in front through Antuna with Pavon again picking up the assist. The Argentine winger pressured Evan Bush on a pass played back to the goalkeeper and then chased the ball down in the corner, playing into the box. Ibrahimovic headed down to Antuna, who took it off his chest, but whiffed on his first chance, with Samuel Piette also missing a chance to clear, before scoring his fifth goal of the season.
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Goals
- 31’ — LA — Zlatan Ibrahimovic | WATCH
- 48’ — MTL — Lassi Lappalainen | WATCH
- 50’ — LA — Uriel Antuna | WATCH
Three Things
- THE BIG PICTURE: A week removed from being below the playoff line in the West, the LA Galaxy are now third in the West with three games to play — two against teams below the playoff line (Vancouver Whitecaps and Houston Dynamo). The Impact los their third straight game, yet are still three points below the line in the East with two games to play.
- MOMENT OF THE MATCH: This is how you respond after conceding the equalizer. Pavon gets a lion’s share of the credit here for his effort to create Antuna’s winner almost out of nothing.
- MAN OF THE MATCH: Pavon was a beast, influential on every touch and putting in the hard work to pressure Bush on Antuna’s winning goal. He deserved a goal and came close on a few occasions.
Next Up
- LA: Wednesday, September 25 at Real Salt Lake (9:30 pm ET | MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in US, on DAZN in Canada)
- MTL: Sunday, September 29 vs. Atlanta United (5:00 pm ET | TVAS, TSN5, MLS LIVE on ESPN+ in US)
