Son Heung-min scored his first Major League Soccer hat-trick as Los Angeles FC won 4-1 at Real Salt Lake on Wednesday.
The South Korea forward struck twice in the opening 16 minutes to put LAFC 2-0 up before completing his treble to make it 3-1 on 82 minutes.
That took the 33-year-oldโs tally to five goals in six games for LAFC since ending his 10-year spell with Tottenham toย move to the US last month.
โItโs amazing to get my first hat-trick in the MLS,โ said Son. โIโm very happy and grateful to everyone.
โEven if I donโt score, I enjoy playing for this club and getting a good result away from home.
โIโm enjoying every single moment, every single training session and every single game.โ
Team-mate Denis Bouanga completed the scoring with his 94th goal in all competitions for LAFC, putting him above Mexico forwardย Carlos Velaย as the clubโs all-time leading scorer.
Bouanga, who joined from French club St-Etienne in 2022, now has 19 MLS goals this season and is behind only Nashvilleโs English striker Sam Surridge (21) and Inter Miami superstar Lionel Messi (20).
The 30-year-old Gabon forward unselfishly laid the ball off for Son to register LAFCโs second hat-trick in as many games, after Bouanga scored a treble in Saturdayโs 4-2 win at the San Jose Earthquakes.
LAFCโs latest win lifted them to fourth in the Western Conference, above the Seattle Sounders, and they have six regular-season games remaining.
Real Salt Lake visit Los Angeles on Sunday, when LAFC will honour the clubโs first signing, Vela. The 36-year-old retired from professional football in May and has become LAFCโs first club ambassador.
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