ATLANTA, Georgia (Sat., March 7, 2026) – Real Salt Lake (2-1-0, 6 points, 5th West) earned a hard-fought 3–2 victory at Atlanta United (0-3-0, 0 points, 13th East), securing three road points and showcasing several key players who highlighted the attacking potential of RSL’s revamped 2026 roster, despite missing several starters due to injury.
RSL Head Coach Pablo Mastroeni made two changes from last week’s 2-1 home win over Seattle to the starting lineup for tonight's road match in Atlanta, bringing recently acquired Designated Player Morgan Guilavogui into the starting XI for the first time this season after making his MLS debut a week ago. Also joining the starting squad for the first time was rookie Spanish striker Sergi Solans, as RSL looked to build on the momentum from its opening two matches with a stronger attacking presence.
Real Salt Lake featured four RSL Academy products in the starting XI, with homegrown veteran Justen Glad starting for the third consecutive week, alongside 18-year-old standouts Zavier Gozo and Aiden Hezarkhani and 17-year-old midfielder Luca Moisa.
The visitors got off to a hot start, with Guilavogui finding a scoring opportunity in the first minute of play. His shot ultimately sailed high and struck the crossbar, but the French striker quickly made his presence felt in the attacking third, recording multiple shots on goal in the opening 20 minutes of the match.
As the Claret-and-Cobalt continued to push, it thwarted several attacks from Atlanta United FC before the Frenchman finally broke through and assisted his teammate to draw first blood. Receiving the ball deep in Real Salt Lake’s defensive half, Guilavogui played a perfectly-weighted pass through the middle of the field and behind the defense to Solans, who slipped past his defender and finished cleanly to put the visitors ahead in the 24th minute.
Following his first career MLS goal, Solans continued to impress just three minutes later, flicking the ball to Hezarkhani, who took two touches before firing a right-footed shot into the back of the net to give the visitors a 2–0 lead with just under 20 minutes remaining in the opening half. The goal by the 18-year-old marked his second consecutive match with a goal, after scoring his first career MLS goal during last Saturday’s home opener against Seattle.
The home side responded, with Atlanta’s Aleksey Miranchuk finding the back of the net eleven minutes later. The Claret-and-Cobalt quickly silenced the crowd again just two minutes later when RSL’s young standout, Gozo beat his defender and fired a brilliant left-footed shot into the top-left corner, sending the visitors into the locker room with a 3–1 advantage.
Mastroeni made one change at the break, bringing another RSL Academy product, MLS rookie midfielder Griffin Dillon, on for Moisa. The substitution marked the Club’s eighth debutant of the season, and the seventh to make his MLS debut. As the second half continued, both sides traded possession and scoring opportunities until Atlanta United FC found the back of the net in the 74th minute to cut the score to 3–2.
In the 81st minute, Mastroeni turned to Utah native Zach Booth and Jesús Barea, the scoring machine from RSL’s MLS NEXT Pro side, Real Monarchs, bringing both on for the attacking duo of Solans and Guilavogui.
Along with the substitutions, Uruguayan defender Juan Manuel Sanabria led the back line, in tandem with goalkeeper and RSL captain Rafael Cabral to hold off Atlanta in the final minutes, keeping the score at 3-2 and ending the night with three hard-earned points.
Real Salt Lake returns home next weekend to host Austin FC at America First Field on Saturday, March 14. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. MT as RSL looks to continue building momentum early in the season and earn a second consecutive victory in front of the Sandy crowd. Tickets for Saturday's match are available here.
GOAL SCORING SUMMARY: ATL 2 : 3 RSL
RSL: Sergi Solans (Morgan Guilavogui) 24’ - After receiving in the ball in RSL’s defensive end, Guilavogui turned sending a perfectly placed ball up the middle of the field, splitting the defense and allowing Solans to run onto it, taking a touch before taking a right footed shot to the bottom right corner of the net.
RSL: Aiden Hezarkhani (Sergi Solans) 27’ - Finding himself in the middle of the action once again, Solans flicks the ball to Hezarkhani who took a right-footed shot from the center of the box to put the visitors up 2-0.
ATL: Alexey Miranchuk (Elias Baez, Cooper Sanchez) 38’ - Baez sends a cross from left side of box for Miranchuk to run on to and take a left footed shot into the back of the net closing the gap on the deficit
RSL: Zavier Gozo (Philip Quinton, Justen Glad) 40’ - After stopping an attack by Atlanta, Quinton found himself with the ball, passing it up the field to Gozo, who made a move to beat his defender near the top corner of the box before firing a left-footed shot into the top left corner of the net, giving RSL its third goal of the half.
ATL: Alexey Miranchuk (Latte Lath) 74’ - After swapping possession all half, Lath dribbled into the left side of the box before sending the ball across to Miranchuk, who buried a right-footed shot into the back of the net for his second goal of the evening.
RSL: NOTES FROM ATL 2 : 3 RSL
- Four RSL Academy products started tonight for a third consecutive week.
- The previous three-goal half also came against ATL, on July 6, 2024 at home, with the last three-goal first half for RSL coming on April 20, 2024 at Chicago in a 4-0 victory
- The substitution by Griffin Dillon marks the eighth Club debutant this season, and the seventh to make his MLS debut (Lukas Engel)
- The 27th-minute goal by teen Aiden Hezarkhani marks his second consecutive goal since making his MLS debut in the 2026 MLS season opener last Saturday
- Real Salt Lake improved its record to 48-10-18 (W-L-T) when scoring first in the 186-game Mastroeni era.
- RSL was 12-6-5 last year when it drew first blood in 23 of 40 matches across all competitions, now improving to 2-0-0 this year
LINEUPS:
Real Salt Lake (3-4-3): Rafael Cabral ©; Philip Quinton (Sam Junqua 85’), Justen Glad, Lukas Engel; Zavier Gozo, Luca Moisa (Griffin Dillon 46’), Noel Caliskan, Juan Sanabria; Aiden Hezarkhani (Dominik Marczuk 63’), Sergi Solans (Jesús Barea 82’), Morgan Guilavogui (Zach Booth 81’)
Subs not used: Mason Stajduhar, Stijn Spierings, Pablo Ruiz, Alex Katranis
Head Coach: Pablo Mastroeni
Atlanta United (4-3-3): Lucas Hoyos; Tomas Jacob (Matthew Edwards 79’), Juan Berrocal, Enea Mihaj (Sergio Santos 86’), Elias Baez; Steven Alzate (Saba Lobjanidze 79’), Tristan Muyumba, Cooper Sanchez (Matias Galarza Fonda 59’); Alexey Miranchuk, Latte Lath, Miguel Almiron ©
Subs not used: Jayden Hibbert, Ronald Hernandez, Stian Gregersen, Pedro Amador, Luke Brennan
Head Coach: Tata Martino
Stats Summary: ATL / RSL
Shots: 13 / 9
Shots on Goal: 4 / 4
Saves: 2 / 2
Corner Kicks: 4 / 2
Fouls: 13 / 4
MISCONDUCT SUMMARY:
RSL: Aiden Hezarkhani (Yellow Card - 17’)
ATL: Cooper Sanchez (Yellow Card - 43’)
RSL: Luca Moisa (Yellow Card - 44’)
ATL: Juan Berrocal (Yellow Card - 45 +6’)
RSL: Zavier Gozo (Yellow Card - 90 +1’)
