After LAFC's recent coup of Juventus legend Giorgio Chiellini and five-time Champions League winner Gareth Bale, all eyes were on the club Sunday as it welcomed the New York Red Bulls to Banc of California Stadium in Los Angeles in a nationally televised match on ABC.
There's always star power on-hand with part owners like Will Ferrell, Mia Hamm and Magic Johnson hanging around the building, but Sunday saw an appearance from another household name who's effectively been promoted to co-owner recently — 23-year-old French superstar Kylian Mbappé.
Mbappé's enjoying his offseason after signing an extension at PSG through 2025 that earned him a $106 million signing bonus and yearly salary of $53 million, and on Sunday he spent that hard-earned cash on getting a peak at potential World Cup quarterfinal opponent Kellyn Acosta.
We love our fans. #LAFC pic.twitter.com/79bWU8qbeF
— LAFC (@LAFC) June 26, 2022
The Red Bulls were short on depth following a U.S. Open Cup win over NYCFC last Wednesday and the absence of Aaron Long, Luquinhas and Jason Pendant after they entered the league's health and safety protocols, and LAFC eventually broke the visitors apart with two goals taken in quick succession in the second half.
In the 67th minute, Carlos Vela got his third assist of the campaign and Cristian Arango scored in his third straight match.
️ CHICHOOOO@11carlosV with the dime to set up Arango's 19th goal in 33 games. pic.twitter.com/DlyOA7OUEN
— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 26, 2022
Three minutes later, Brian Rodríguez twisted and turned on the edge of the area before picking out Diego Palacios for the collected finish.
The counter from @LAFC.
Brian Rodriguez finds Diego Palacios to make it 2-0. pic.twitter.com/xDcD352Iub— Major League Soccer (@MLS) June 26, 2022
LAFC becomes the first club to reach 10 wins this season and is leading the Supporters' Shield race with 33 points from 16 matches. The team hosts FC Dallas on Wednesday, travels to Vancouver on Saturday and then it's time for El Tráfico at Banc of California Stadium on Friday, July 8.
We've been given every indication that's when both Chiellini and Bale will make their debuts, and it's an increasingly worrying situation for the Galaxy after the club went out to Sacramento Republic in the Open Cup quarterfinals last Tuesday.
Of course LAFC, in its fifth season and without an MLS Cup appearance, is still in the shadow of the Galaxy, which has been around since the league's beginning in 1996 and has captured a record five MLS Cups. In fact, if you looked at Google Trends following confirmation of Gareth Bale's transfer to LAFC, the vast majority of search queries were for "Gareth Bale LA Galaxy" — Los Angeles' second club is clearly still making its own name.
But there's a worrying trend for the Galaxy in only a single playoff appearance over the last five years coupled with a disappointing start to 2022. Javier Hernández ($6M) has six goals and zero assists in 15 games, Douglas Costa ($3M) has two goals and zero assists in 12 and Kévin Cabral's ($1.65M) return is zero goals and zero assists in 15.
The Galaxy's attack has only produced 18 goals in 15 games, whereas LAFC is getting great production from the likes of Arango ($683K), José Cifuentes ($412K) and Kwadwo Opoku ($133K). Adding Bale to the equation isn't going to hurt.
