LOS ANGELES — Something about this specific game, this specific opponent, just gets Dennis Bouanga going.
Maybe it’s genuine hate.
Maybe it’s a friendly rivalry.
Maybe the MLS All-Star is just a star in any game he plays.
But the yellow card he received after the final whistle — furious with officials following LAFC’s 97th-minute collapse to the Galaxy —suggested a visceral kind of investment.
Likely hate.
Whatever it is, in “El Tráfico”, against his rival of most abhorrence, LAFC’s star striker always shows.
Saturday was no different as he bagged a two-goal brace in LAFC’s 3-3 draw against LA Galaxy in the derby. It was the sixth straight “Tráfico” he netted in, setting a new record for consecutive such matches in the rivalry.
“It’s like a final,” Bouanga said via his translator. “You need to push your boundaries; the derby is always special.”
In the 25th minute, right back Ryan Hollingshead jumped on a Galaxy turnover at midfield, sending Bouanga into acres of space, where he slotted away the game’s opener.
In the 66th, he crossed midfield on the break with the ball himself, again alone in space after a turnover.
The Galaxy defense had been split open and chased to no avail as the Gabon native tore through 40 yards of open field in seconds, arriving at a hopeless Novak Micovic alone defending his net.
“We struggled a lot with counterattacks, especially today,” Galaxy attacking midfielder Marco Reus said. “We knew that Bouanga wasn’t doing much defensive-wise, so that means that we had to be careful if we lost the ball.”
Bouanga was wheeling away, smiling before his shot even touched the back corner of the net, putting his side up 3-1.
Bouanga was subbed off in the 84th minute, on a hat trick, with LAFC leading 3-2 at that point.
The smile was replaced with an irate tirade by the final whistle.
“I did not understand why I came off the pitch,” Bouanga said. “That was pretty disappointing. For me, it’s a loss today. It’s not a draw.”
His second goal moved him to 10 all-time in “El Tráfico”, passing Galaxy’s Zlatan Ibrahimović (8) and now trailing only LAFC’s club legend Carlos Vela (12). In more than just this rivalry, Bouanga is chasing Vela across LAFC’s record books.
The newly minted three-time consecutive all-star has 87 goals in 134 total appearances. Vela’s club record is 93 in 186.
However, Vela’s impact was greater than the confines of BMO’s stadium, and the Gabonese striker is chasing the former Mexican great on a league-wide scale as well.
Vela is a two-time Supporters Shield winner (2019,21), one-time MLS Cup champion (2022), one-time MVP (2019), and a one-time Golden Boot winner for the league’s top scorer when he set the MLS record for goals in a season, scoring 34 in 2019.
Bouanga’s list of accolades has begun to similarly sparkle. He shared the 2021 Supporters Shield and MLS Cup with Vela. After Vela’s retirement, Bouanga collected an Open Cup trophy in 2024 and his golden boot, leading the league in goals in 2023, netting 20.
His 13 so far this season makes him the second player in LAFC history to score 10 or more goals in three consecutive seasons.
It actually wasn’t Vela who set this record; it was Diego Rossi who did so from 2018-2020.
But of course, Vela did it too, just not consecutively
He surpassed the 10-goal mark in three separate seasons in 2018, 2019, and 2022.
The legacy chase is real; however, Bouanga isn’t running it alone.
“Vela is an icon,” he said. “I feel it’s more of a team effort rather than an individual record. As long as the team is happy with what I’m doing, if I can get past Carlos, then that’s what matters the most.”
Bouanga is ascending the all-time scoring list for L.A. and has reserved some of his most spirited performances to the ire of the Galaxy.
Saturday night proved it again: a thunderous performance against LAFC’s biggest antagonist, a history-setting brace, and a postgame seething outburst that appeared as personal as it was painful, while the spoils were shared.
Something about this game.
