Real Salt Lake Drops Fourth Straight Road Match Against LAFC
Sep 21, 2025, 9:54 PM
(Photo courtesy of Real Salt Lake)
(Photo courtesy of Real Salt Lake)
LOS ANGELES – Real Salt Lake left BMO Stadium in Southern California empty-handed on Sunday following a 4-1 loss to LAFC.
RSL opened scoring with a Brayan Vera banger from long range, but from there it was all LA. They scored two goals in stoppage time just before the half and tacked on two more after the break for good measure.
Real fell to 10-5-15 with the loss. They will return home to America First Field on Saturday, September 27, to face Austin FC.
Final #LAFCvRSL | @SelectHealth pic.twitter.com/YxDtD6Mja1
— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) September 22, 2025
First Half
Real Salt Lake opened the match on the attack, with two early shot attempts to keep LAFC on its toes.
LA’s Denis Bouanga was the first to put a shot on frame. In the seventh minute, he loaded up from the right side of the box but Rafael Cabral was able to make the save in the bottom left corner.
The first 15 minutes were dominated by RSL. Rwan Cruz and Vera looked to get the club on the board in the 12th and 14th, but Cruz’s shot was saved and Vera’s was blocked out of bounds.
On the ensuing corner, Vera got the ball above the box and sent a screamer into the top left corner, giving RSL the lead they were looking for.
the definition of a BANGER 🤯 pic.twitter.com/B8HNz98Lix
— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) September 22, 2025
That lead would hold strong for about 30 minutes.
Los Angeles turned up the heat, and Real did its best to weather the storm. But the constant pressure eventually caused them to break, and the script flipped immediately.
One minute into first-half stoppage time, Bouanga put his shot in the bottom right corner to make it 11. Two minutes later, Son Heung-Min put his shot in the opposite bottom corner.
Real Salt Lake went into the half trailing 2-1 after leading for about 70 percent of the opening half.
at the break #LAFCvRSL | @SeatGeek pic.twitter.com/wypOB5OYYU
— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) September 22, 2025
Second Half
Similar to the first half, Real came out swinging.
Eight of the first 10 shot attempts in the second half belonged to RSL. The Los Angeles back line held strong, though. It was a block party at BMO Stadium.
After bending but not breaking and keeping Real at bay, Los Angeles scored on their third and fourth shot attempts of the half.
In the 73rd minute, Bouanga did it again. Off a perfect through ball from Andrew Moran, he drew Cabral in before hitting him with a chip shot from the middle of the box.
After 14 minutes of RSL attacks that were threatening but not quite enough, Bouanga made it a hat trick to put the nail in the coffin. Cabral got his hands on the shot, but it trickled into the goal off his hand still.
Denis gets his hat-trick 🎩🪄
🔥 7 goals in his last 3 matches https://t.co/uFfod0ODok pic.twitter.com/rT8dkOJE43
— LAFC (@LAFC) September 22, 2025
Real got one more attempt off, but the game was ultimately called after six minutes of extra time. The loss in LA put Real Salt Lake at four straight losses on the road in MLS play.
How To Watch Real Salt Lake
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You can find KSL Sports coverage of Real Salt Lake here.
