As Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez buried the penalty kick to tie the game at 2-2 vs. Sporting Kansas City Sunday night, an ecstatic Riqui Puig gestured to the crowd at Dignity Health Sports Park, throwing his hands up and down, doing it again and finally for a third time before crossing the midfield stripe.
He could get used to this.
We weren’t sure what to expect when LA Galaxy brought in Barcelona midfielder Riqui Puig Martí on a TAM deal. Too good to be true, right? Was this a groundbreaking moment for the league with LA acquiring a young talent from one of the world’s elite clubs? Or just another transfer?
After all, the Blue, White and Gold have had previous ties to the Blaugrana Former players Giovani and Jonathan dos Santos previously starred at the famed La Masia youth academy before briefly enjoying success with the first team. Victor Vázquez was a mainstay with Barcelona B, while across town LAFC’s Ilie Sanchez also had a spell with the reserves. New DP signing Cristian Tello also scored 20 goals in 86 appearances for Barcelona.
However, those players eventually moved on from the Catalan capital and carved out careers with other clubs before winding up in America. Riqui Puig is the first to jump straight from Barca to MLS. And after the way he was treated this summer by his former club, you could imagine he’s got something to prove.
'I couldn’t imagine that this club was reaching out to me'
Those were some of the first words said by Puig during his introductory press conference last month. While it may have come off as false modesty for a player used to performing at the Camp Nou to show such great enthusiasm, in retrospect it’s clear the 23-year-old who claimed to like taking risks was ready for the unique challenge of playing in Major League Soccer.
And sure enough, Puig was electric in his first start Aug. 28 at New England, controlling the tempo of play and frustrating the Revs with his defensive work rate.
As impressive as Puig’s technical ability has been, it’s the manner in which he’s seamlessly integrated into MLS that’s helped Riqui hit the ground running. Cross-country road trip to play on an artificial surface in Foxborough? That scenario would frazzle most newcomers to the league, but it was smooth sailing for the 23-year-old.
Despite playing on a field so lumpy it resembled a mini-golf course at times, Puig used the carpet to rifle an inch-perfect laser through the midfield right to Chicharito who doubled LA’s lead.
Three days later in Toronto, Puig had another transformative outing in Galaxy colors, topped with a goal that had the league pundits salivating once again. Collecting the ball on the left side of the midfield stripe, Puig executed a quick give-and-go with Gastón Brugman, took two touches and placed a curving shot past a helpless Alex Bono into the corner netting before celebrating like he’d just won MLS Cup.
“I have come to the LA Galaxy to win titles and I don’t like to lose,” Puig stated plainly in the postgame presser.
RIQUI PUIG'S FIRST MLS GOAL IS A STUNNER 🔥 pic.twitter.com/upt6lWXxZa
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) September 1, 2022
“Again, it’s his mobility,” explained LA Galaxy manager Greg Vanney. “ It’s his ability to find spaces, find gaps. Play on the move. Pick up the ball and glide into new areas. Play off of people and get the ball back. It just keeps the tempo of the game, kind of flowing all the time.”
“And he just has a unique ability to slide through spaces and either eliminate guys or get the game into a new area so that we can move the ball. For us, a lot of our midfielders are guys who receive and play, receive and play. And he now kind of takes the game to a different level with his dribbling. So, I thought he was excellent.”
Sadly, Chicharito’s missed panenka during stoppage time will likely overshadow another productive match from Puig, who led the team in duels while completing over 95% of his passes. It seems Puig is good for at least one moment of Barcelona magic every game, and on Sunday he expertly pirouetted around Johnny Russell before eliminating six SKC players with a breaking line pass to Kevin Cabral who drew a late penalty.
(If you think Riqui will have trouble with the summer heat, keep in mind that he wore a long-sleeve shirt beneath his jersey neatly tucked into his shorts and looked just fine on a miserably hot afternoon.)
⏰ 4th minute - Riqui Puig with a great pass and pre assist to initiate the attack for Galaxy’s 1-0 goal
— Michael (@MichaelEmilio_) September 5, 2022
⏰ 87th minute - Another brilliant pass from Riqui Puig resulting in a 2-2, equalizing penalty for Galaxy pic.twitter.com/1bL6ZKkBTx
The big question ahead of Puig’s arrival was whether an elite No. 6 like himself could level up and become a creative focal point in the Galaxy attack. So far, that answer is looking like a resounding yes. It will be critical for LA this offseason to find the right attacking option who can shoulder some of the creative burden from Puig, as neither Vázquez, Efraín Alvarez nor Sacha Kljestan have been able to consistently fill that role during Vanney's two years in charge.
Though the acquisition of Riqui Puig may be inconvenient for Galaxy fans hoping the Chris Klein era is finished soon, there’s no denying the organization deserves a ton of credit for prying the attacking midfielder away from Barcelona.