Bouanga brace powers LAFC over Columbus Crew in Round of 16 first leg | OneFootball

LOS ANGELES – Los Angeles FC earned a 3-nil win against the Columbus Crew in the first leg of their Round of 16 series as the 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup continued on Tuesday at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Denis Bouanga struck in the 20', stripping the ball from Columbus defender Steven Moreira before driving into the box and circumventing Patrick Schulte for the opening goal.

Bouanga extended the LAFC lead in the 46’ with a right-footed strike from the left edge of the box.

The French-born Gabon international nearly picked up an assist in the 65’, finding 19-year-old David Martínez in the box, but the Venezuelan’s attempt was just wide of the left post.

Schulte delivered a save to deny Bouanga his hat-trick in the 68’, as the LAFC forward looked to increase the gap between the two MLS foes.

The Columbus goalkeeper provided another important save in the 73’ to deny Martínez once again.

Nathan Ordaz came off the bench and added the third goal for LAFC in the 81', striking off the volley to take advantage of a corner kick opportunity.

The two sides will meet in the second leg next Tuesday at Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio, USA.

Post-Match Data Los Angeles FC v Columbus Crew

Los Angeles FC has won all four of its home matches against MLS opposition in the Concacaf Champions Cup. They’ve outscored them opponents, 10-0, over the four matches.

● Dénis Bouanga has been directly involved in 13 goals in 11 careers matches in the Concacaf Champions Cup (9 goals, 4 assists). No player has been involved in more goals in the competition since Bouanga made his debut in 2023.

● Dénis Bouanga scored multiple goals in a match for the third time in his Concacaf Champions Cup career (also in 2023 v. Vancouver Whitecaps and Alajuelense). The only other player with three multi-goal games for MLS teams in the competition since 2016-17 is Carlos Vela, who also did so for Los Angeles FC.

● Dénis Bouanga’s second goal was scored 41 seconds into the second half, the fastest into either half any player has scored in the Concacaf Champions Cup since Carlos Vela, also for Los Angeles FC, scored 13 seconds into the second half against América in the 2020 semi-final.

● Darlington Nagbe completed 69 of 75 passes (92.0%) tonight. Since 2016-17, Nagbe has completed 91.9 percent of his passes in 18 appearances in the Concacaf Champions Cup, the second highest of any player that has played 10 or more games in the competition in that time (Francisco Meza – 92.5%).