{"id":173857,"date":"2025-09-22T11:35:09","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T11:35:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/173857\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T11:35:09","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T11:35:09","slug":"denis-bouanga-lafc-superstar-makes-history-with-hat-trick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/173857\/","title":{"rendered":"Denis Bouanga! LAFC superstar makes history with HAT TRICK"},"content":{"rendered":"

LAFC<\/a> superstar Denis Bouanga<\/a> made history on Sunday night, becoming the first player in league history to score at least 20 goals in three consecutive seasons.<\/p>\n

Bouanga reached that milestone in stunning fashion, scoring a hat trick in a 4-1 rout<\/a> of Real Salt Lake<\/a> at BMO Stadium.<\/p>\n

The Gabon international tallied in first-half stoppage time (45+1′) when combining with Son Heung-Min<\/a>, then netted a second-half brace to put the game out of reach (73′, 87′).<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel very good right now and we continue on a very good path,” Bouanga said postgame. “I try to be decisive in every game, which could be scoring a goal or passing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n Golden Boot charge<\/p>\n

The three-time MLS All-Star is now firmly in the Golden Boot presented by Audi race, equaling Inter Miami CF<\/a> forward Lionel Messi<\/a> with 22 goals scored.<\/p>\n

Messi is narrowly ahead on the first tiebreaker (assists), dishing out 12 helpers compared to Bouanga’s eight. They’re trailed by Nashville SC<\/a> striker Sam Surridge<\/a>, who has 21 goals.<\/p>\n

“Winning the Golden Boot, of course, is a goal,” Bouanga said. “But it is important to stay focused every game and to be decisive for my team, which is scoring a goal or giving an assist.”<\/p>\n

Bouanga won the Golden Boot in 2023, scoring 20 goals during his first full season in Black & Gold. He also hit the 20-goal mark in 2024, finishing behind champion Christian Benteke<\/a> (D.C. United<\/a>).<\/p>\n

\n Game-changing form<\/p>\n

Bouanga has scored in four straight games to ascend the scoring charts, firing off a hat trick in two of his last three matches.<\/p>\n

The perennial Best XI contender’s other hat trick came in a recent 4-2 win<\/a> at the San Jose Earthquakes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Along the way, Bouanga has shown improved chemistry with Son. The South Korean superstar arrived in early August from Tottenham Hotspur on an MLS-record deal.<\/p>\n

“Credit to Denis because he works hard to help the team and score a lot of goals,” Son said of his new teammate.<\/p>\n

“It’s not random. It\u2019s not lucky. He works really hard to always be in the positions scoring goals, and we should appreciate [him] for that.”<\/p>\n

\n Elite crowd: 20+ goals in MLS history<\/p>\n

Bouanga joined an elite group in the process, becoming the sixth player with multiple 20-goal seasons in MLS history:<\/p>\n

Denis Bouanga: 2023-25
\nBradley Wright-Phillips: 2014, 2016, 2018
\nLionel Messi: 2024-25
\nZlatan Ibrahimovi\u0107: 2018-19
\nJosef Mart\u00ednez: 2018-19
\nDavid Villa: 2016-17<\/p>\n

Bouanga’s latest milestone comes four days after he passed club legend Carlos Vela<\/a> as LAFC’s all-time leading goalscorer, tallying 1g\/1a in a 4-1 win<\/a> at RSL.<\/p>\n

He now has 97 goals in 145 matches (all competitions) with the Black & Gold, putting the 100-goal mark within reach before season’s end.<\/p>\n

LAFC’s high-octane attack, led by Bouanga and Son, returns to action on Saturday at St. Louis CITY SC<\/a> (8:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass<\/a>).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAFC superstar Denis Bouanga made history on Sunday night, becoming the first player in league history to score…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":173858,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[45927,103734,47890,6864,6863,6868,403,99],"class_list":["post-173857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-denis-bouanga","tag-lafcvsrsl-09-21-2025","tag-los-angeles-football-club","tag-match-reaction","tag-priority-match","tag-sendtonews","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173857"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/173857\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/173858"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=173857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=173857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}