Carlos Vela scored from the penalty spot in the 83rd minute as expansion-side Los Angeles FC overcame an Ignacio Piatti hat trick to defeat the 10-man Montreal Impact 5-3 at Saputo Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Los Angeles (4-2-0) scored four unanswered second-half goals for their second consecutive victory. Montreal (2-5-0) has lost three straight.
Laurent Ciman scored in his return to Montreal, his first game back since being traded to Los Angeles in the off-season. Benny Feilhaber and Latif Blessing added goals for the visitors while Impact defender Jukka Raitala scored an own goal.
READ MORE: Montreal Impact trade star defender Laurent Ciman to Los Angeles
It was the first all-time meeting between the Impact and LAFC.
Montreal went down a player in the 31st minute when Victor Cabrera was shown a straight red card for a tackle on Marco Urena in the penalty box. Urena stepped up to the spot but Evan Bush got his fingers on the low, powerful shot. Montreal was leading 2-1.
Vela made up for Urena’s miss late in the game. Now tied 3-3, Vela fired a shot down the middle after Daniel Lovitz took down Diego Rossi in the box.
Blessing scored an insurance goal in the 89th minute after Bush spilled the ball and it rolled between his legs.
The Impact were playing their first match at Saputo Stadium and second in Montreal after a 1-0 victory over Toronto FC at the neighbouring Olympic Stadium earlier this season.
Things were looking good early on for the home side.
READ MORE: Montreal Impact earns 1 – 0 win over Toronto FC in season home opener
Montreal jumped to its first two-goal lead of the season within 16 minutes of the opening whistle.
Piatti scored his first of the game in the ninth minute, firing home a rebound into the roof of the net from in close. Tyler Miller dove to intercept a cross in the box from Alejandro Silva, but he punched the ball right to Piatti.
The 33-year-old scored again seven minutes later, from the penalty spot. Piatti’s fantastic footwork helped him evade tackles by defender Walker Zimmerman and Ciman before goalie Miller took him down in the box.
The veteran Ciman, who spent three seasons with the Impact before being traded, scored a stunner from a free kick 30 yards out in the 24th minute. Bush was slow to react as Ciman’s hard driven shot found the top corner of the net.
READ MORE: Diallo injury exposes Impact’s depth issues as MLS season set to start
Down to 10 men, Piatti made it 3-1 just before halftime as he let a perfectly-weighted lob from Raitala bounce twice before firing his shot past Miller.
It was the Argentine’s first hat trick in Major League Soccer and first career hat trick since 2013, when he played for San Lorenzo in Argentina.
The second half was all Los Angeles.
A missed clearance in the 18-yard box fell right to Feilhaber, who scored his second of the season in the 52nd minute.
The visitors tied the game five minutes later when Raitala tried to flick the ball away from danger, only to send it into his own net.
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