HARRISON, N.J. – Two of the three MLS MVP finalists were on the field at Red Bull Arena on Sunday, but a player who looked every bit as worthy of being a candidate for that award outperformed both of them.
Ignacio Piatti helped lead the Montreal Impact past the New York Red Bulls on Sunday night, bagging a brace in a 2-1 win in the second leg of the Eastern Conference Semifinals on Sunday night. The result gave the Impact a 3-1 aggregate victory in the series after last week’s opening-leg win in Montreal, and moved them into the Eastern Conference Championship for the first time in franchise history.
“We knocked out an important team, but we knew they’re a weak team in the playoffs,” said Piatti, who recorded four goals and one assist in five matches vs. New York in 2016. “They showed that last year, they showed that this year. During the regular season, they’re tough, but in the playoffs, they’re not that good.”
Piatti was not just cold-blooded with his words Sunday, but also with his play. The Impact’s creative force repeatedly went at Red Bulls right back Chris Duvall when the defensive-minded visitors tried to hit on the counter, and Piatti finally bested his counterpart in the 51st minute.
Collecting a pass near the top of the 18-yard box, Piatti pretended like he was going to take Duvall inside before cleverly and deftly cutting to his left. The move created enough separation for the 31-year-old Argentine to unleash a venomous left-footed shot that Red Bulls goalkeeper Luis Robles misread and failed to keep out.
“I’m not sure I’ve ever seen him hit a ball with his left foot that hard, but it was a massive goal,” Impact goalkeeper Evan Bush said.
Piatti’s opener put the Impact in a comfortable position, as the Red Bulls needed three goals in the remaining 39 minutes to advance. New York pulled one back in the 77th minute through Bradley Wright-Phillips, but neither he nor fellow MLS MVP finalist Sacha Kljestan would find the back of the net again.
Instead, it was Piatti who struck with the dagger in the 85th minute when he punctuated a lethal counterattack with a clinical finish.
Game. Set. Match. Thanks in large part to Piatti.
“New York is a very good team and Wright-Phillips and Kljestan deserve to be in the finalist conversation, but Nacho to me is a top-three player in this league hands down,” Bush said. “He came up and showed what he’s capable of in this moment and everyone in this locker room thinks he should be an MVP candidate.
“Unfortunately he wasn’t and he doesn’t really care about that, as long as we keep winning. But for what he did today, it’s exactly what we expect of him, to get out in open spaces and create goals.”
Impact head coach Mauro Biello agreed with that. How could he not? After all, his star playmaker had just come through and delivered on one of the grandest stages.
“Nacho, to me, is one of the best players in the league and again he showed it tonight,” Biello said. “Big moment, big situation and he scores two goals — and now we advance.”
