RSL fights back twice to earn draw against star-studded LAFC

SANDY — Real Salt Lake’s designated players were unable to play in Saturday night’s game.

LAFC’s designated players scored twice.

Denis Bouanga and Son Heung-min gave the visitors the lead once each, while World Cup-winning goalkeeper Hugo Lloris repeatedly kept RSL from finding more joy at the other end.

Real Salt Lake kept coming back.

Saba Lobjanidze scored his first goal for RSL and Noel Caliskan added a second-half equalizer as Salt Lake twice erased one-goal deficits to earn a 2-2 draw against LAFC.

It wasn’t the win RSL desperately needed. Its MLS winless streak reached nine matches, dating to May 16, with two Leagues Cup victories providing the only relief during that stretch.

But after four consecutive losses across all competitions, RSL finally showed some of the fight and attacking confidence it had been missing.

That showed up in the duels, too. After being beaten nearly 2-to-1 in total duels in each of its previous two matches, RSL essentially broke even with LAFC, winning 26 to the visitors’ 25.

“I think there’s little wins within the performance as well, and I think the biggest one is coming back twice,” head coach Pablo Mastroeni said. “That is the hardest thing to do, especially with a group that is not real familiar with each other.”

RSL finished with 22 shots, put nine on target and generated 2.80 expected goals against an LAFC defense that entered the night having conceded less than a goal per match. Lloris made seven saves, including several that denied RSL chances that appeared destined for the net.

Son joined LAFC from Tottenham last year for a reported MLS-record transfer fee of approximately $26.5 million and is receiving $11.15 million in guaranteed compensation this season. Bouanga is earning approximately $4.94 million in total compensation, according to salary data compiled by Capology.

RSL’s entire roster opened the 2026 season at approximately $15.3 million in guaranteed compensation. RSL’s highest-paid player, Morgan Guilavogui, was suspended for yellow-card accumulation. Its second-highest-paid player, Justen Glad, remains out with a long-term injury.

But in front of 21,078 fans at America First Field, RSL played stretches of fearless soccer that leveled the field.

Aiden ➡️ Keeper ➡️ Noel ➡️ Back of the net 😤 pic.twitter.com/ulpskInM9N

— Real Salt Lake (@realsaltlake) September 6, 2026

Answering back

It took LAFC 14 minutes to open the scoring.

After an RSL turnover, Bouanga drove at his lone defender, deked left, cut onto his right foot and buried a world-class finish into the far-side netting to give LAFC a 1-0 lead.

RSL answered four minutes later.

A challenge from Caliskan knocked the ball into Lobjanidze’s path near the top of the penalty area. The Georgian attacker got past his defender and calmly rolled his shot inside the left post for his third goal of the season and first since joining RSL from Atlanta United.

Lobjanidze celebrated by tapping his wrist, breaking out his signature “Saba Time” celebration for the first time in an RSL uniform.

Asked afterward if “Saba Time” was officially underway in Salt Lake, Lobjanidze smiled.

“Yeah,” he said. “It’s starting now and I hope will be more, yeah, next games.”

The goal came during a stretch that saw Lobjanidze, Diego Luna and 17-year-old Luca Moisa combining quickly through midfield and consistently finding space around the LAFC penalty area.

Lobjanidze said the connections are beginning to form, but aren’t finished yet.

“The connections was good, but could be better,” Lobjanidze said. “For next games we have to be better.”

LAFC retook the lead before halftime.

Bouanga got to the end line in the 39th minute and cut the ball back toward Son in the middle. Rafael Cabral did well to get a hand to Son’s shot, but could only push it against the underside of the crossbar before it crossed the line.

LAFC went into halftime ahead 2-1 despite RSL having created enough opportunities to believe it could have been level, if not ahead.

Mastroeni didn’t change the plan.

“The game plan is still there. There’s nothing to change,” Mastroeni said he told his players at halftime.

RSL kept coming.

Lloris denied a redirected Luna blast in the 54th minute and pushed away a Caliskan strike four minutes later as Salt Lake continued building pressure.

Alex Katranis stepped high to pressure LAFC as the visitors tried to play out of the back in the 75th minute. The ball eventually reached substitute Aiden Hezarkhani, who drove into the penalty area with defenders converging and forced another full-stretch diving save from Lloris, who couldn’t hold onto the shot.

Caliskan was making a hard run at the opposite post, anticipating the rebound.

The midfielder buried it in the roof of the net to make it 2-2.

Mastroeni called Caliskan’s night one of the best midfield performances he has seen since arriving at RSL.

More than a point

RSL still needed one final defensive play to preserve the draw.

Son broke through in the 87th minute and rounded an onrushing Cabral, leaving an open goal. But Cabral’s charge delayed Son just enough for DeAndre Yedlin to race back and clear his shot before it crossed the line, preserving the point.

The draw extended RSL’s league winless run, and one point at home did little by itself to solve the club’s position below the Western Conference playoff line.

Lobjanidze didn’t pretend otherwise.

But after a stretch in which RSL had repeatedly found ways to lose close matches, he saw something more significant in responding twice against one of the league’s most talented teams.

“For me, it was more than one point because two times we were losing the game and we come back,” Lobjanidze said. “That’s what we need in the season also, we have to come back.

“I can’t say I’m happy with the one point, but I can say I’m happy with the performance we did.”

Playing out of position at right wingback, Katranis earned praise from Mastroeni for an “exemplary” performance on both sides of the ball.

“It shows the character of the team,” Katranis said. “It was a very good thing that we came back from the first goal, so it gave us a little bit of confidence that even if we are down, we can answer.”

For a team that entered the night searching for anything resembling the momentum it carried before the World Cup break, Katranis was willing to take the first step.

“That’s football,” he said. “If you can’t win, don’t lose. And we go to the next one.”

Salt Lake travels to Houston to face the Dynamo on Wednesday before returning to America First Field next Saturday against New York City FC.