Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored his first MLS hat-trick as LA Galaxy came from behind to defeat Orlando City 4-3 on Sunday.
The former Sweden striker got his goals inside 24 second-half minutes.
15 goals in 17 #LAGalaxy appearances.
Witness @Ibra_official's first hat trick in @MLS ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/KNGqoOFxHq
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) July 30, 2018
Ibrahimovic, 36, has 15 goals in 17 appearances for the Galaxy.
He had earlier provided the assist for Giovani dos Santos to score Galaxy’s first after Cristian Higuita had given Orlando the lead.
The visitors’ other goals came from a Michael Ciani own goal and Dom Dwyer.
READ: Neymar admits to diving, acting at World Cup
LA Galaxy are now unbeaten in their past nine matches and are third in the Western Conference.
Ibrahimovic joined LA Galaxy on 23 March 2018. He made his debut on March 31, as a substitute against Los Angeles FC in the El Tráfico derby, where he scored twice, including a 45-yard half volley and a header in stoppage time that led to the Galaxy winning 4–3.
After his match-winning performance, Ibrahimović said, “I heard the crowd saying ‘We want Zlatan, we want Zlatan’, so I gave them Zlatan.”
He scored twice for the Galaxy in a 3–2 defeat to FC Dallas on May 30; however he railed against his team, saying “Every game we shouldn’t be losing two or three goals and then you have to catch the game and try to win. This is not the game; this is absolutely not the game. Even if you are in MLS or Premier League, wherever, it doesn’t work like that. We need to be the leading team and play from there, not to catch the goal all the time, so obviously it’s not good.”
He scored twice against both Real Salt Lake and San Jose Earthquakes in June and July, before scoring a penalty in a 4–0 win against Columbus Crew on July 8.
Ibrahimovic scored his 12th league goal to help his side defeat Philadelphia Union with a 3–1 victory on July 22.
