LAFC may be one of the youngest teams in Major League Soccer, having been established just five years ago, but are already looking like a powerhouse. They claimed their first-ever trophy earlier in the campaign in the form of the Supporters' Shield and have finished 16 points clear of Seattle Sounders in the Western Conference.
A major contributing factor to this success has been Vela, who needed one goal to break Josef Martinez's 31-goal record against Colorado Rapids. Just to make sure, though, he got three - and in quite brilliant fashion.
The record-breaking goal came 28 minutes in when he took advantage of some unsure Colorado defending to curl an absolute beauty of a strike into the top left corner from 25 yards. The second wasn't bad either - just a spectacular bicycle kick to make it 2-0.
His hat-trick goal was much simpler, passing home after a cross from Tristan Blackmon.
Los Angeles FC fixtures, results, and statistics
