SANDY, Utah (Sat., April 5, 2025) – Real Salt Lake (3-4-0, 9 points, 9th West MLS) delivered a strong home performance Saturday against the LA Galaxy, with a first-half Diego Luna brace and a clean sheet led by an inspired back-line performance and a Rafael Cabral clean sheet ending its two-game winless run with a 2-0 scoreline at America First Field.
Real Salt Lake recovered from consecutive losses against Dallas and Minnesota the last two weeks, arriving at home in need of a positive result before the RSL faithful. Reigning champion LA Galaxy arrived in Utah winless on the season, yet still juggling Concacaf Champions Cup and league action on this bluebird spring day, RSL succeeded in grabbing all three points with the Galaxy presumably looking forward to its Champions Cup second leg this upcoming midweek against Mexican side Tigres.
RSL boss Pablo Mastroeni’s men came into this one with three personnel changes and a positional shift made to last week’s starting lineup, with DF Alex Katranis and DF Bode Hidalgo replacing Philip Quinton and Sam Junqua on the back line, while FW Ari Piol re-entered the XI after serving a one-week suspension due to his 19th-minute red card two weeks ago. Dynamic RSL playmakers Diego Luna and Diogo Gonçalves swapped positions in the left and right 10s.
A strong start to the match saw RSL extremely hungry for goal, pressing high up the field, forcing LA to move the ball quickly to avoid losing possession. The four men up front— Ari Piol, Diogo Gonçalves, Diego Luna, and Dominik Marczuk— were heavily involved in the development of crucial attacks that put the Galaxy goalkeeper under pressure early.
Nineteen minutes into the match, the home side saw its first big opportunity. Fantastic one-touch play between Piol and Luna in the Galaxy half opened up space for Diogo to receive a filtered ball from Luna, who went one-on-one with the LA keeper, ultimately unable to capitalize and shot the ball over the net.
On just its second goal-scoring opportunity of the day, the Claret-and-Cobalt put itself on the scoresheet, capitalizing on its vibrant start. In the 21st minute, Luna scored his first goal at America First Field this season. With Alex Katranis putting in a low pass towards the penalty spot, he found Diego, who took two touches to set himself up and smoothly slammed it past the keeper to celebrate the first goal of the game.
Just five minutes later, Luna pounced on a rare mistake by the Galaxy to double the lead for RSL, recording his second-ever brace for the club - and his first since July 15, 2023, when RSL defeated the New York Red Bulls, 3-1 at home. A rival defender interrupted a low cross put in by Piol, but was unable to clear the danger, allowing Luna to silently get in behind and slot the ball into the back of net with a one-touch, left-footed shot. Twenty-six minutes in and the Claret-and-Cobalt were up 2-0 for the first time this season, under the watchful gaze of 19,340 faithful, the lead and momentum going into the second half.
The second half was a more staid and divided affair between the two clubs, each sharing opportunities on both ends of the field but unable to grab a goal. A solid all-around outing for RSL handed itself the victory long before the final whistle blew, RSL once again bouncing back from a setback and avoiding back-to-back losses, a staple of the Mastroeni era.
The spotlight may have been on number eight for RSL, but DF Alex Katranis deserves credit for a brilliant performance with his involvement in both goals. In his 84 minutes on the pitch, Katranis logged an assist, 42 completed passes, and 2 successful crosses as he put pressure on the opponent in the RSL game model’s most difficult role.
Success during the 90 minutes could be attributed to the stability in the midfield, led by Captain Emeka Eneli and immense Paraguayan two-way MF Braian Ojeda. The team, led by the duo in the midfield, recorded a passing completion percentage of 89 percent, their highest in the first seven games of the league season.
GK Rafael Cabral and the defensive line acquired its second shutout of the MLS season, the first one occurring back on March 1 during the home opener against Seattle, another 2-0 victory.
MF Diego Luna was the star of the day, delivering two goals to propel the squad to victory and making it three goals on the season - with game-winners against both Houston and LA Galaxy. The RSL and USMNT starlet now leads the team in scoring, today becoming the youngest player in Club history to reach 15 goals and 15 assists at just 21 years and 210 days old. It was no surprise when he was selected as the Man of the Match, a special way to close out a spectacular weekend where Friday the 21-year-old was crowned the State of Utah’s Male Professional Athlete of the Year by the Utah Sports Commission for his 2024 exploits.
Next week, RSL will look to continue its ascendancy with a visit to Nashville SC on Saturday, April 12. Kickoff is slated for 6:30 PM MT at Geodis Park.
RSL 2 : 0 LA
GOALSCORING SUMMARY
RSL: Diego Luna (Alex Katranis) 21’: Diogo Gonçalves wins the ball just outside of the LA 18-yard-box, passes it off to Alex Katranis on the left side of the box who puts in a low pass towards the penalty spot and finds Diego Luna who takes two touches to set himself up and shoots it into the bottom right of the net.
RSL: Diego Luna (Unassisted) 26’: Katranis passes the ball to Ari Piol into the left side of the LA box and puts in a low cross, a Galaxy defender interrupts the delivery but Luna gets a hold of it and uses one touch with his left foot to shoot it into the back of the net.
NOTES FROM RSL 2 : 0 LA
- With today’s victory, RSL snapped a two-game losing streak - something which has occurred just 12 times in 148 games during the Pablo Mastroeni era - and avoided a three-game slide for the first time since Aug./Sept., 2023
- Luna’s brace today was his second during his RSL / MLS career, last scoring twice in a game back on July 15, 2023, when he earned MLS Player of the Matchday honors prior to his U-20 Youth World Championships in Argentina
- Today’s clean sheet was RSL’s third across nine matches in all competitions, with GK Rafael Cabral - the lone player to have appeared in all 810 minutes this season - notching three shutouts
- First-round MLS SuperDraft pick Jesús Barea made his home debut for RSL today, after appearing for the first time in MLS with the final 45 minutes at Minnesota last week
- With his start today, Justen Glad makes his 284th Club appearance across all competitions, now ranking third all-time in RSL’s MLS regular-season history (249 appearances / 241 starts)
LINEUPS
Real Salt Lake (4-2-3-1): Rafael Cabral; Alex Katranis (Sam Junqua, 84’), Justin Glad, Brayan Vera, Bode Hidalgo; Braian Ojeda, Emeka Eneli ©; Diogo Gonçalves (Jesus Barea, 69’), Diego Luna, Dominik Marczuk (Tyler Wolff, 78’), Ariath Piol (Zavier Gozo, 78’)
Subs not used: Pablo Ruiz, Nelson Palacio, Lachlan Brook, Philip Quinton, Mason Stajduhar,
Head Coach: Pablo Mastroeni
LA Galaxy (4-3-3): John McCarthy; Harbor Tarczynski-Miller, Emiro Garces, Zanka (Eriq Zavaleta, 46’), Julian Aude (John Nelson, 75); Tucker Lepley, Ruben Ramos Jr (Isaiah Parente, 46’), Edwin Carrillo; Diego Fagúndez © (Elijah Wynder, 59’), Miguel Berry, Joseph Paintsil (Matheus Nascimento, 59’)
Subs not used: Novak Micovic, Miki Yamane, Christian Ramirez, Ascel Essenque
Head Coach: Greg Vanney
Stats Summary: RSL / LA
Shots: 7 / 9
Shots on Goal: 2 / 1
Saves: 1 / 0
Corner Kicks: 4 / 1
Fouls: 17 / 10
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
RSL: Brayan Vera (Yellow Card - 2’)
RSL: Alex Katranis (Yellow Card - 70’)
LA: Tucker Lepley (Yellow Card - 72’)
RSL: Dominik Marczuk (Yellow Card - 73’)
LA: Zanka (Yellow Card - 89’)
