LAFC claimed a convincing 3-0 win over the Columbus Crew on Tuesday night in the first leg of their Concacaf Champions Cup Round of 16 series at BMO Stadium. Denis Bouanga scored on either side of halftime and Nathan Ordaz added a late goal off the bench. The second leg kicks off at 5:30 p.m. PT on Tuesday, March 11, with LAFC holding a three-goal advantage in the aggregate goal series and a chance to advance to the Champions Cup Quarterfinals on the line.
In the 20th minute Denis Bouanga gave LAFC a 1-0 lead with his first goal of 2025. LAFC’s all-time leader in Concacaf goals, Bouanga took the ball off the foot of Columbus defender Steven Moreira 25 yards from goal and broke in alone before rounding the goalkeeper and sliding the ball into the net.
The score would stay 1-0 into the halftime break before LAFC doubled its lead less than 60 seconds after the restart. Bouanga collected a pass from Jeremy Ebobisse on the left wing and then cut inside onto his right foot and hit a curling shot that clipped the crossbar and caromed into the net, making the score 2-0 in favor of LAFC.
Nathan Ordaz rounded out the scoring in the 81st minute with his first goal of the year and first-ever goal in the Champions Cup. A Bouanga corner kick from the left wing was headed away by the Crew defense, but only as far as Ordaz, whose right-footed volley beat Columbus goalkeeper Patrick Schulte to give LAFC the 3-0 victory.
Hugo Lloris made one save for LAFC to record his fourth consecutive clean sheet in all competitions.
Prior to the second-leg match against Columbus on March 11, LAFC returns to MLS action when the club hits the road for the first time this season in league play, traveling north to take on the Seattle Sounders. That match kicks off at 1:45 p.m. and is available on MLS Season Pass on Apple TV, Fox, Fox Deportes, 710 AM and 980 AM.
NOTES
- With the win, LAFC is now 2-1-0 in the Champions Cup this season and 9-6-1 in the competition all-time. At home, LAFC is 5-2-0 in Concacaf play, outscoring opponents 14-3 and keeping five clean sheets.
- LAFC now takes a 3-0 advantage into the second leg of the series in Columbus. This is the third time in seven all-time two-leg, aggregate goal Concacaf series that LAFC has won the first leg 3-0. The club has gone on to win each of the other two series.
- After going 20-3-5 at home in all competitions in 2024, LAFC is now a perfect 4-0-0 at home so far in 2025 while keeping a clean sheet in each game.
- Over 450 minutes of play in all competitions this year, LAFC has yet to allow a goal from open play. The Black & Gold has not conceded a goal in the last 370 minutes of action in all competitions.
- In two Champions Cup home games this year, LAFC has allowed just one shot on target.
- Denis Bouanga scored twice to give him nine goals in 10 all-time Concacaf matches. That breaks a tie with Carlos Vela for the most Concacaf goals in club history.
- Bouanga joins Vela and Kwadwo Opoku as the only LAFC players to score for the club in multiple Concacaf campaigns. Vela and Opoku each scored in 2020 and 2023 while Bouanga scored seven times in 2023 and now twice in 2025.
- This was his third multi-goal game in the competition, having also scored a hat trick in the first leg of the Round of 16 against Alajuelense in 2023 and then scoring twice in the first leg against Vancouver the following round.
- Bouanga now has 71 goals in all competitions for LAFC, having scored 41 regular-season goals, 12 in Leagues Cup, nine in Concacaf, eight in the MLS Cup Playoffs and one in the U.S. Open Cup.
- Nathan Ordaz rounded out the scoring with his first goal of the season and his first-ever in the Champions Cup. He has appeared in all three of LAFC’s Champions Cup games this year, coming off the bench twice.
- Ordaz is the 11th different player to score in the competition for LAFC.
- Denis Bouanga and David Martínez combined for 13 shots on the evening, two more than the entire Columbus team.
- LAFC Head Coach Steve Cherundolo coached his 149th game in all competitions for the club tonight. He is 84-38-27 in that time, helping lead LAFC to the 2022 Supporters’ Shield and MLS Cup, as well as the 2024 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup.
