Milestones, storylines and more ahead of the Lions home match vs Real Salt Lake in "The Road Ahead" driven by Audi:
Milestones
- Eduard Atuesta’s next appearance will be his 50th in all competitions for Orlando City.
- Robin Jansson’s next start will be his 250th as a Lion in all competitions.
- Marco Pašalić’s next start will be his 50th in all competitions for Orlando City.
- Daryl Dike’s next goal will be his 21st for Orlando City, tying former teammate Tesho Akindele for tenth on the club’s all-time scoring list.
- Pašalić is two goals away from 20 for the club across all competitions, two behind Dike.
Stats & Storylines
- Orlando City took a tough defeat on Wednesday, falling 2-1 at home to Chicago despite controlling the majority of the game and out-shooting the Fire 17-6. David Brekalo scored his second goal of the season and the fifth of his Orlando career, heading home a perfectly-placed corner kick from Antoine Griezmann.
- Griezmann was sensational despite the loss, racking up the assist, a game-high five key passes (including three big chances created), a 91% passing accuracy, and four ball recoveries while displaying his trademark quality and workrate. Griezmann has gone the full 90 minutes in all seven of his starts for Orlando City.
- The game was heavily impacted by a long weather delay shortly before halftime. The Lions made three subs coming out of the delay, taking Wilder Cartagena, Tyrese Spicer, and Adrián MarÃn out of the game for Marco PaÅ¡alić, Tiago, and Zakaria Taifi. Chicago opted not to make a sub until the hour mark of the match.
- The Lions remain three points below the playoff line in the Eastern Conference thanks to D.C. United’s loss to New England on Wednesday night. In fact, the four teams directly above Orlando in the table all dropped points midweek; Red Bull New York and New York City FC both lost in second half stoppage time against Nashville and Cincinnati, respectively, while Charlotte blew a 3-1 lead while up a man and settled for a draw in Toronto.
Series History
All-time vs. Real Salt Lake - 2-2-3, -2 GD (1-0-2, +2 GD home)
MLS only vs. Real Salt Lake - Same
2015 - D 1-1 (A)
2016 - D 2-2 (H)
2017 - W 0-1 (A)
2018 - W 3-1 (H)
2019 - L 2-1 (A)
2020 - D 0-0 (H)
2023 - L 4-0 (A)
Meet the opponent: Real Salt Lake
- Orlando City faces Real Salt Lake this weekend for the first time in any competition since July 8, 2023. RSL is set to visit Inter.co Stadium for the first time since February 25, 2020, the final home game the Lions played before the Covid-19 pandemic.Â
- The Lions are unbeaten against Real Salt Lake at home, famously coming back from 2-0 down deep in second-half stoppage time to earn a 2-2 draw in the 2016 home opener with late goals from Cyle Larin and Adrian Winter.Â
- RSL has enjoyed a mostly successful 2026 season thus far, though a recent six-game winless run in MLS play has dropped it from the top 4 down to 8th in the Western Conference. The Claret and Cobalt did advance to the Leagues Cup quarterfinals and are scheduled to face Club León in a neutral site game at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park in Colorado on Tuesday, giving head coach Pablo Mastroeni more to think about heading into this weekend’s contest in Orlando.
- Salt Lake are led by United States men’s national teamer Diego Luna, who was a shock omission from the U.S. World Cup roster after featuring regularly for Mauricio Pochettino throughout 2025. Luna missed the start of the season with an injury but is up to 5g/6a in 14 matches (11 starts) in the 2026 regular season, including a 1g/2a performance on Wednesday night against FC Dallas. RSL also feature DP attacking midfielder Morgan Guilavogui (2g/7a) and rookie striker Sergi Solans, who leads the team with nine goals. RSL just completed a sale of teenage attacking dynamo and USMNT hopeful Zavier Gozo (6g/5a in 16 games) to Crystal Palace of the English Premier League.
