COLUMBUS – Riqui Puig isn’t taking a victory lap. It’s too soon for that. He has repeatedly mentioned eight games remain in the LA Galaxy’s regular season and there’s plenty of work to do.
But he definitely is doing some talking.
“We trust you! You are so good with predictions!” he tweeted last month along with a screenshot of this website’s now-notorious standings predictions
Defying the pundits
None had the Galaxy higher than fourth in the Western Conference. Instead, they enter the All-Star break atop the West – earning 49 points from 26 matches.
Former Galaxy teammate Sacha Kljestan, now an analyst for MLS Season Pass on Apple TV who will line up next to Puig at Tuesday night's MLS All-Star Skills Challenge presented by AT&T (7:30 pm ET | MLS Season Pass), has earned special mention from Puig.
Kljestan warned Puig in January 2023 that he wouldn’t hold back when in the studio. “I get to talk s–t about you. You miss a penalty or something I get to kill you, bro,” he joked before making plans for golf. But those social invites may have dried up, with Puig frustrated about how Kljestan spoke about the Galaxy last season when the team slumped to a 13th-place finish in the West.
That skepticism from experts is “something we use as motivation, and even more so when a former player that was with us sharing the locker room two or three years ago sometimes speaks bad about the team, of our Galaxy. Sometimes that hurts a bit,” Puig told MLSsoccer.com on Tuesday. “That’s why sometimes I’ve had to come out and say something because it hasn’t sat well with some of us, especially his former teammates.”
While Kljestan and Puig are back on decent terms, the active player made no apology for the decision to call out the former USMNT midfielder.
“We talked yesterday and [are] all good. I think he knows there are some times he talked too much about the Galaxy’s situation,” he said. “We had a difficult situation last year, and I think he needed to help and not talk badly.”
Buzzsaw in attack
Critics have had to look much deeper to find fault in the Galaxy this season. The addition of DP wingers Joseph Paintsil and Gabriel Pec has given Puig new players to work with and allowed manager Greg Vanney to better utilize the Spanish midfielder’s abilities.
“They’ve given us a lot of speed up top, which gives me more space in the midfield,” Puig said. “Honestly, I think this year Greg also has known how to put the pieces in the right places.”
Puig leads the league in progressive passes by more than 100 and is tops in touches, fouls earned, progressive carrying distance and passes into the final third, making 255 entries compared to teammate Mark Delgado in second place with 165.
He’s scored eight goals and all those passes into dangerous areas have resulted in 11 assists. Beyond the numbers, Puig has just been outright fun to watch with the ball at his feet.
"I think it’s a year in which I’m scoring a lot of goals, have a lot of assists," he said. "I think I’m really involved in the team and honestly I’m really happy. It’s one of the best years I’ve had since I started my career."
Already a player with high name recognition among soccer fans after coming up through La Masia and making more than 40 appearances for FC Barcelona’s first team before moving to LA in August 2022, this season has seen Puig emerge as a true star.
His jersey is the fifth-best-selling in the league and he was voted in for Wednesday’s All-Star Game presented by Target by the fans. That has led to media appearances like the one at this week’s MLS All-Star news conference, among other responsibilities.
“I’m not a huge fan of doing all this stuff because what I like most is playing soccer and giving effort on the field, but it’s something we’ve got to do and, overall, is good for us,” he conceded.
Thriving in LA
While Puig may not relish speaking to the press, he is enjoying this season – not only creating scoring chances on the field, but living in a city where media outlets are unlikely to try to pry into his personal life. He’s taken issue with coverage of the team last season and this, but said the spotlight in the U.S. is easier to deal with than what he experienced in Barcelona.
“I think in Spain, it’s sometimes too much. You’ve got to be careful with everything. I think we have a bit more freedom here and can live our personal life more,” he said.
Comfortable with his teammates, performances and role in the league, Puig is now happy to pick his spots. He knows a tweet like the one in which he told an on-vacation Kljestan to “Stay in Europe!” will get people talking. Kljestan is hardly the only one who was skeptical about the 2024 Galaxy, either.
Puig hopes to keep creating, keep winning and ultimately keep talking. Nothing would prove the doubters more wrong than giving a post-match interview with a trophy in hand and embarking upon the victory lap he's been waiting on.
