Toronto FC’s Federico Bernardeschi and Deybi Flores have been named to the Major League Soccer (MLS) Team of the Matchday 15 following the Reds’ dominant 5-1 victory against CF Montréal at BMO Field on Saturday evening.
Federico Bernardeschi earns his place in the starting lineup for his ninth career Team of the Matchday selection, and fourth of 2024, after scoring his first career hat-trick for Toronto FC in Saturday’s win. The hat-trick, only the second in Canadian Classique history, also marked the club’s first since Ayo Akinola’s trio of goals against CF Montréal in the MLS is Back tournament on July 16, 2020.
Bernardeschi doubled the Reds’ advantage early in the first half, when Deybi Flores set up the Italian who unleashed a powerful left-footed effort into the roof of the Montréal net in the 12th minute.
Bernardeschi added his second of the night when his in-swinging cross from the right wing evaded the Montréal rearguard and flew into the side netting in the 58th minute.
The Italian, operating as a wing-back, completed his hat-trick when he finished from close range following a deflected pass from Derrick Etienne Jr. in the 60th minute.
Federico Bernardeschi’s goals in the 58th and 60th minute marked the two fastest goals scored by one player in club history with 108 seconds separating the two strikes. Bernardeschi’s third goal on Saturday was his 20th for the Reds since joining in July 2022, moving him into seventh on the club’s all-time goalscoring charts.
Deybi Flores earns his place, as a substitute, for his second Team of the Matchday selection of the season after an all-action performance on Saturday. Making his 13th MLS appearance of the campaign, Flores picked up his first MLS assist for Toronto FC with a defence-splitting pass to set up Bernardeschi in the 12th minute. The Honduran midfielder led TFC in passes (73) and successful passes (63), while also ranking second amongst the Reds’ in distance covered (10.69 km), ball actions (82) and high-speed runs (45) on the night.
In total, Toronto FC have now earned 14 MLS Team of the Matchday honours during the 2024 MLS regular season – Federico Bernardeschi (4), Sean Johnson (3), Lorenzo Insigne (2), Deybi Flores (2), Kevin Long (1), Prince Owusu (1) and Tyrese Spicer (1).
MLSsoccer.com’s Team of the Matchday – Matchday 15:
F: Hannes Wolf (NYC), Cristian Arango (RSL), Federico Bernardeschi (TOR)
M: Luciano Acosta (CIN), Dániel Gazdag (PHI), Dani Pereira (ATX), Robin Lod (MIN)
D: Erik Sviatchenko (HOU), Rudy Camacho (CLB), Wilder Cartagena (ORL)
GK: Kristijan Kahlina (CLT)
Coach: Nick Cushing (NYC)
Bench: Maarten Paes (DAL), Tayvon Gray (NYC), Deybi Flores (TOR), Bartosz Slisz (ATL), Andrés Gómez (RSL), Jáder Obrian (ATX), Ryan Gauld (VAN), Leonardo Campana (MIA), Jack Lynn (ORL)
