Heung-Min Son opens up after his first El Tráfico win with LAFC over LA Galaxy | OneFootball

The El Trafico derby has already passed. LAFC demolished the Galaxy by a score of 3-0. The LA Galaxy looked completely out of sorts.

Balls were slipping through behind the midfield with ease, while the back line couldn't keep up with the movement of Heung-Min Son and Denis Bouanga.

The South Korean star was due for a response after what was a surprisingly disappointing World Cup campaign with his national team.

Not only did he put those struggles behind him with an outstanding performance, but he also spoke about his excitement at experiencing one of MLS's biggest rivalries for the first time.

Heung-Min Son: “The derby is always really special”

The former Tottenham Hotspur captain spoke about what this rivalry means and how a result like this could help LAFC build confidence heading into the second half of the regular season.

“The derby is always really special. I just wanted to be part of it, and I just wanted to win here, and today we did. Being back, scoring goals and winning with a clean sheet, I think, is going to be really helpful for our confidence through the second part of the season.”

Son scored a superb goal against the LA Galaxy after a slick passing move. The ball found the veteran just outside the box, where he shrugged off his defender before firing a low shot across goal and into the bottom-right corner to extend LAFC's lead.

Afterwards, the Black and Gold received a penalty kick to finish the match at that precise moment.

However, I think everyone was shocked when you realized that Heung-Min Son, a player with plenty of experience taking penalty kicks, gave the shot to Denis Bouanga, who had been in charge of taking them before Son arrived.

When reporters asked this to the South Korean forward, the footballer said:

“Before I joined this team, [Bouanga] was always the penalty taker, so he fully deserved to take a penalty, and I always believed in him. I just wanted to make a little bit of a mess with the [] players because [they] say a little bit of bad words, so I was dealing with all the bad stuff so he could be taking a penalty with a free mind.”

With this result, LAFC climbed to third place in the Western Conference, closing the gap on the Vancouver Whitecaps.

However, it's worth remembering that the Whitecaps still have a game in hand after their match against the Chicago Fire was postponed due to hazardous air quality in Chicago.