LOS ANGELES – Once Romain Alessandrini found the back of the net in the 82nd minute, the LA Galaxy could feel it.
The comeback was on.
Again.
Goals by Romain Alessandrini and Ola Kamara in the final 10 minutes of the contest helped the Galaxy earn a 2-2 draw against LAFC in their first-ever trip to Banc of California Stadium. The match began much like the two sides’ clash back in March with LAFC taking a two-goal lead into the second half.
LAFC dominated much of the contest, but when Alessandrini found the back of the net in the 82nd minute, the energy changed, and the rally was on.
“I think their heads went down a little bit and they looked tired. It’s tough going up 2-0, and when Romain scored, they could feel that something was happening," Kamara said. "You could see it for the rest of the 15 minutes. They weren’t that strong. I think we have a little edge on them.”
Alessandrini agreed that when his goal went in, everything changed.
“At 2-0, we had nothing to lose. This type of game, you try to give everything, so when your losing 2-0 like this at half-time, you have to wake up and give more for your team,” Alessandrini told reporters after the game. “We came back to 2-1, and at this point, you have to give everything to get it to 2-2. When you score a goal, the game is changed.”
Although the team was on a high after earning a hard-fought point and extending their unbeaten run to eight games, Zlatan Ibrahimović remarked that the Galaxy must not make these types of comebacks a habit.
“[When you play like this], you don’t focus on the mistakes. You only focus on the fact that we have a good spirit and that we came back, but that is not what we should focus on,” Ibrahimović said,” We should focus on the mistakes that we did, and we should not close our eyes from that. We did come back to draw 2-2 from 2-0, but we should focus on the real things.”