LA Galaxy midfielder Riqui Puig is enjoying arguably his best-ever professional season – and has an impressive collection of goal celebrations to prove it.
The FC Barcelona product, who's provided several viral moments in 2024 with his post-goal shenanigans, was back at it Wednesday night by doing the Salt Bae pose after scoring the first of his two goals in the Galaxy's 3-1 win at the Colorado Rapids.
With the brace, Puig reached 13g/14a on the season and has LA on the verge of securing the Western Conference's No. 1 seed in the Audi 2024 MLS Cup Playoffs.
"I’m enjoying a lot this year, I’m making a lot of assists and goals. I think it’s one of my best seasons since I’ve been playing soccer," the 25-year-old playmaker said postmatch. "When you're enjoying, I think you can feel it inside the field: [We're] all together and all the team is enjoying together, and we are making really good performances.
"And that’s really good for us and also for the Galaxy."
It's equally good for head coach Greg Vanney, who's helped oversee a remarkable turnaround after the club missed the playoffs in 2023.
The acquisitions of Designated Players Gabriel Pec (14g/14a) and Joseph Paintstil (10g/10a) have been instrumental in this shift, but fellow DP Puig remains the Galaxy's focal point.
"As you guys have seen, he's one of the best players, if not the best player in the league, at being able to pick up the ball and get himself facing forward," Vanney said.
Puig credits his teammates for this season's impressive offensive output.
"I think that we are playing really good. We need to improve some things in the defensive area, but I think we are destroying teams in the counterattacks," he said. "I think Gabriel [Pec] is at a high level, Paintsil also, [so is] Deki [Dejan Joveljic]."
LA host Austin FC on Saturday, seeking to lock up the No. 1 spot in the West that would assure them home-field advantage throughout the playoffs (10:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass).
The Galaxy are undefeated at Dignity Health Sports Park this season (12W-0L-3D), which Puig feels would give them a clear edge in the playoffs as the top seed.
"We'd have 12 [players] because the fans help us a lot," Puig said. "I'm very happy because I think we're having an incredible season. I hope we finish first because we deserve it."
