Lassi Lappalainen is the newest member of the Montreal Impact, and he's already making a mark in MLS.
The 20-year-old, signed last week on loan from Bologna, scored two goals in his MLS debut, a 4-0 win over the Philadelphia Union on Saturday, and the Finnish attacker has been voted MLS Player of the Week for Week 21 of the 2019 season.
Barely four minutes into Saturday's game, Lappalainen opened the scoring, taking a wicked diagonal from Zachary Brault-Guillard and cutting against the grain before calmly finishing.
The quick start instinct continued again in the second half, when off the kickoff following the halftime break Lappalainen ran onto to a loose ball off a turnover, dribbled quickly up the left flank, and buried his shot with confidence.
The game was Lappalainen's first domestic league match of his career outside of his native Finland. In winning MLS Player of the Week, he becomes the first player to win the honor from his MLS debut since Zlatan Ibrahimovic in 2018.
The MLS Player of the Week is selected each week of the regular season through both media and fan voting in a process conducted by MLS Communications. A panel of journalists from the North American Soccer Reporters (NASR) comprises 75 percent of the vote, while a Twitter fan vote represents the remaining 25 percent of voting. NASR consists of members of print, television, radio and online media.
