Riqui Puig threaded the needle to assist Chicharito in his first MLS start
The FC Barcelona product made his first start in MLS and provided a brilliant assist in the LA Galaxy’s 2-1 road win over New England.
Riqui Puig made his second appearance for the Los Angeles Galaxy, and his first start, in the 2-1 road win over the New England Revolution on Sunday night at Gillette Stadium. The FC Barcelona product threaded the needle to assist Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernández, who scored his 12th goal of the season, with a 40-yard through ball in the 15th minute for the winning goal of the night, and had a brilliant game throughout the full 98 minutes.
Puig adapting quickly to MLS
The 23-year-old ended the match with one assist, 45 out of 53 accurate passes, one big chance created, three accurate long balls, three out of five accurate dribbles, two successful tackles, one clearance, one interception, nine recoveries and one shot on goal. Riqui Puig was the engine of the Galaxy throughout the match and helped the team make smarter and quicker transitions.
“I am very happy [with the win]. It was a long flight and I am not used to that, but the team played perfectly for 70 minutes. Carlos Gil scoring did affect us a little bit, but in the end we were able to manage the situation and win the three points that are so important to the team,” said Riqui Puig after the match.
Puig is quickly making a bond with Chicharito on the field and the understanding will open the doors for them to create more chances on goal with eight games left in the regular season. Despite limited exposure in Major League Soccer he is already being considered as one of the most talented players in the league.
The Galaxy sit in seventh place in the standings in the Western Conference with a record of 11 wins, four draws and 11 defeats, with a total of 37 points. They need a top seven finish in order to play in the 2022 MLS Cup playoffs and now they will travel to Canada to face Toronto FC on Wednesday night.