Reus asks for fans to 'believe' in LA Galaxy after saving a point in El Trafico

Marco Reus was the star of the show as LA Galaxy drew 2-2 with city rivals Los Angeles FC on Sunday, with the former Germany international scoring a brace to rescue a point.

Reus had opened the scoring in the sixth minute after scrambling home a rebound for only his second MLS goal of the season.

“I like these games," he said, as quoted by the official MLS website. "Especially when we play at home with our own club. So for me, it's always an opportunity to step up for the team and for myself as well. It was a big game.

But ecstasy soon turned to misery when LAFC turned the game round with goals Denis Bouanga in the 13th minute and Nathan Ordaz five minutes into the second half.

The Galaxy then had a goal ruled out for offside with just 12 minutes left on the clock before Reus stepped up to level things in the 87th minute with a brilliant chipped free kick.

“I’ve had these kind of situations a thousand times in my career so I know what I have to do in this situation. I'm not watching like, okay, the ref is going to blow the whistle, and then I have to shoot now. I have to stay calm, just concentrate on the situation and then hopefully it goes in.

"This time I was a little bit lucky, but it was a good chip as well.

"It’s a derby, and for the fans, it’s very important for them that we keep fighting. We still believe in us, you saw that today.

"It was not an easy game for us, like the last games as well, but if we continue like this with the team chemistry, with not giving up, especially in this situation, we will come back.”

Galaxy head coach Greg Vanney was understandably delighted with the contribution of Reus, especially given the absence through injury for last season's 17-goal man Riqui Puig.

“A hell of a finish by Marco on the free kick. We needed him to step up and he did in that moment. I’m proud of the guys," said Vanney.

“It's important to have him on the field because we can rely on him to change the game as he could do last year and Riqui’s not there, but we have Marco Reus, so that's another good player too to\] kind of fill that spot.

"Just to have him in the locker room with his experience and going through this tough stretch of games, he's the guy that continues with positivity around the locker room and everybody respects every time he speaks.

“He's such a smooth customer. The keys from Marco is getting on the ball, getting him in places where he can face forward, getting guys who are running with him and around him so that he can just deliver because his vision is so good and his touch is so soft."

Another classic El Tráfico pic.twitter.com/dcKTny783e
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) May 19, 2025

Reus' late equaliser earned the defending MLS champions just their fourth point of the season, while they are still without a win after 14 matches and are bottom of the Western Conference. Their position, though, does not bother Vanney.

“I honestly don't look at the standings because it doesn't make any sense. I know where we are. I know what our points are like,” he said.

“What I look at is our performances and try to help make this team better and help our guys to prepare them to win. In our league, you’ve got to start stacking some wins.

You start stacking some wins and you can talk about whether the playoffs are a thing or not. I think for us is just to start getting the first win, the second win and then going from there, and then I think it's a better time to have that discussion, but right now we've got to focus on one win at a time.”