Atlanta United 2, Montreal 0: Man of the match

My choice for Atlanta United's man of the match from Sunday's 2-0 win against Montreal at Mercedes-Benz Stadium:

HECTOR VILLALBA

Striker

Why? Villalba opened the scoring with a rocket of a shot in the 28th minute. The play started with Villalba stealing the ball from Patrice Bernier about 25 yards from goal. Dribbling to his right, Villalba put the ball between Deian Boldor’s legs, ran onto the ball and unleashed the shot. It was his 12th goal this season.

“It was a great goal,” he said. “I felt a great sensation when I hit it. In games like this, you don’t want to score just one, you want to score a few. But I think this one is worth three or four.”

Villalba said it did remind him of the goal he scored to defeat Orlando City 1-0.

“They told me it went into the corner, just like the one in Orlando. I wasn’t able to see it because a defender was blocking my view. As soon as the people started to shout I knew it went in.”