With a double from Spanish Riqui Puig, the Los Angeles Galaxy beat the Colorado Rapids 5-0 on Saturday night in the first round of the North American League (MLS) playoffs.
The Los Angeles team still needs one more win to overcome this first round, which is played in the best of three games and will resume next Friday on the Rapids court.
In front of his 24,000 fans, Riqui Puig showed signs of his talent with two goals, an assist and a shot against the crossbar.
The talented playmaker trained in Barcelona served the corner that Serbian Dejan Joveljić converted into the first goal in the 32nd minute and then himself finished off two Galaxy counterattacks in the 54th and 87th minutes.
Joveljić, with a second personal goal (75′), and the American John Nelson (52′) completed the beating of the Galaxy, second seed in the Western Conference after its neighbor, Los Angeles FC.
The Galaxy, the most successful MLS franchise, has reemerged after a year away from the playoffs with a squad led by Puig and Brazilian Gabriel Pec and joined in August by veteran German midfielder Marco Reus.
The initial date of the first round of playoffs got underway on Friday with the victory of Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami 2-1 against Atlanta United and will continue until Tuesday.
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