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SALT LAKE CITY — In the past two weeks, Real Salt Lake has vanquished two Lions.
It couldn't topple a third — the man who nicknamed himself "The Lion," Zlatan Ibrahimovic, the Swedish superstar himself.
Ibrahimovic scored the game-winning goal with about 12 minutes remaining, and the LA Galaxy held on for a 2-1 victory over visiting Real Salt Lake at Dignity Health Sports Park in Carson, California.
LA's Uriel Antuna and RSL's Donny Toia each scored a goal, as well — the first of the season in both cases.
"We definitely had the energy in the second half," said Toia, who scored his first goal in MLS play since 2015. "If we can do that from the get-go, that would be great. But I thought we did pretty well, kept them in front of us.
"There's not much to say besides, we could’ve gotten a result out of it but didn’t."
When the Galaxy (7-1-1, 22 points) struck first, it wasn’t through their world superstar.
Instead, it was Antuna scoring his first career MLS goal early, finishing off a long build-up play that started with Ibrahimovic and went through Diego Polenta and Chris Pontius before finding the back of the net in the 16th minute.
It was the Galaxy's first shot on goal of the match, and the first official shot on goal for both sides. RSL's Sam Johnson had a chance to convert off a pass from Kyle Beckerman previously, but the Liberian international was called offside.
LA was playing its third game in eight days, including a 0-0 draw at Minnesota United last Wednesday. But the Galaxy were at home, and looked entirely the aggressor — comfortable and confident — in the first half, controlling nearly 63 percent of possession.
The Galaxy held Salt Lake (3-5-1, 10 points) to one shot on goal in the first 45 minutes, and out-shot the visitors 8-4 before halftime.
Despite the offensive slugfest, RSL goalkeeper Andrew Putna made three first-half saves to keep the match close. The second-year MLS professional made his second-straight start while Nick Rimando recovers from an injury that also kept him out of the lineup during last week’s 3-0 win at FC Cincinnati.
Real Salt Lake had chances to pull one back. Damir Kreilach's rip from just outside the box clanged off the crossbar in the 54th minute.
The visitors finished the game outshooting the Galaxy 22-11, with six shots on target apiece.
But the equalizer waited until the 64th minute.
After Galaxy goalkeeper David Bingham parried a rip from just outside the box, Toia — the left back who made his third-straight start — was in the right place at the right time, sliding home a well-placed redirect to knot the match at 1-1 with 25 minutes remaining.
The RSL homegrown scored for just the second time in his seven-year MLS career, and first in a Real Salt Lake uniform after leaving the club in 2011.
"Donny had a great goal," RSL coach Mike Petke told the postgame show on KMYU and KSL.com. "We talked about it all week, encouraging our fullbacks to get into the attack more. Obviously, it’s easier when you are down a goal. But I want to see more of that from the get go.
"Aside from their goal, we limited a lot of the stuff that we worked on all week."
But the draw only lasted 14 minutes. That’s when the Lion himself finished off a pass close to goal from Sebastian Lletget to give the Galaxy a 2-1 lead in the 78th minute.
Ibrahimovic, who already owned a yellow card for an earlier confrontation with RSL defender Nedum Onuoha, then ripped Onuoha as the hosts took a lead into the final 10 minutes.
"We had to put pressure on them. Force them to make mistakes, and just keep getting in the attacking half," Toia said. "We knew we had chances in the first half, and we were going to have chances in the second half.
"Then we switched off for a second, and it cost us a goal."
Zlatan in the (visitor’s) locker room
After the match, Ibrahimovic went to have a conversation with Onuoha in the locker room.
The visitor’s locker room, that is. The Galaxy superstar was escorted out of RSL’s locker room by a Galaxy representative while RSL staff members stood nearby. After a heated exchanged, though no additional contact and further-escalating confrontation appears to have occurred.
“Everyone’s in awe of Zlatan, because he’s an aura and a staple. You talk about soccer forwards, charistmatic, talented, unbelievable players, Zlatan is top of the list,” said Petke, admitting he was biting his tongue after receiving fines for postgame dissent in the past two seasons. “Why should it be any different for the league in general to be in awe of him?”
Onuoha told RSL reporter Samantha Yarock that Ibrahimovic entered to "try to apologize" after the match, but the former Premier League center back didn't want to hear an apology after the heated match.
"He came into apologize, because from 60 minutes in, he said he’s going to do me and he’s going to hurt me," Onuoha said. "If someone comes into apologize, I don’t care. I'm not going to accept (the apology); leave that on the field.
"I just told him to get out."
Next up
Real Salt Lake returns to Rio Tinto Stadium Saturday to host the Portland Timbers. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. on KMYU and KSL.com.
