ATLANTA (Sept. 9, 2026) — Antoine Griezmann scored his second brace of the season as Orlando City SC (9-11-4, 31 points) defeated rivals Atlanta United FC (6-14-4, 22 points) by a 3-2 scoreline on Wednesday night at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The result lifts the Lions to sixth in the Eastern Conference standings with ten games left in the regular season.
Atlanta opened the scoring in the seventh minute after playing a short corner kick to Alexey Miranchuk, who crossed the ball into the box to Paulo Díaz. The Chilean headed the ball to Breel Embolo, whose attempt on goal deflected off defender David Brekalo and into the net.
The Lions kept their composure and struck back in the 26th minute when Griffin Dorsey played midfielder Joran Gerbet down the right wing and into the Atlanta United box. Gerbet sent a low cross toward the near post where Griezmann was able to beat his defender and send the ball past goalkeeper Lucas Hoyos to equalize.
Orlando then took the lead in the 58th minute after captain Robin Jansson sent a lofted through ball for Martín Ojeda, who collected the ball before finding a wide-open Iván Angulo who slotted it in to take the lead.
Griezmann doubled his tally in the 77th minute when he picked up a turnover in the final third. The Frenchman sprinted toward the goal before playing a one-two with Justin Ellis to put himself one-on-one with the keeper and tuck home the Lions’ third goal of the night.
The Five Stripes attempted a late rally and pulled one back in the seventh minute of stoppage time via an own goal that deflected from a headed ball following a set piece, but the Lions closed out the game to come away with all three points.
Orlando City next returns home to Inter.co Stadium this Saturday, Sept. 12, to host Toronto FC (7:30 p.m. ET | Apple TV) before traveling to Ohio for its Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup semifinal against the Columbus Crew on Sept. 16.
Scoring Summary:
7’ David Brekalo (Own Goal) – ATL 1, ORL 0
26’ Antoine Griezmann (Joran Gerbet, Griffin Dorsey) – ORL 1, ATL 1
58’ Iván Angulo (Martín Ojeda, Robin Jansson) – ORL 2, ATL 1
77’ Antoine Griezmann (Justin Ellis) - ORL 3, ATL 1
90+7’ Tyrese Spicer (Own Goal) - ORL 3, ATL 2
Interim Head Coach Martín Perelman:
"I think, again, we’re in a process. We go into the last part of the season—the most stressful, beautiful and important moment of the season—and we’re ready to go. We will fight with our weapons and our organization, the talent of our players and the effort. I think it’s about this, game by game, trying to solve every game because every game we need to win.”
Midfielder Joran Gerbet:
“We needed those three points, so pretty big win for the boys. I think we deserve it. Throughout the game, we played a good game. We controlled most of the ball except for the first 10 minutes and last 10 minutes, where we didn’t control the game, but I felt for the most part, we did control the game. So, a huge win for us on the road, especially a derby against Atlanta, so that’s what we needed moving forward.”
Match Notes
- Antoine Griezmann scored his seventh and eighth goals across all competitions this year, marking his second brace of his Lions career. The Frenchman has now logged eight goal contributions for the Lions over his last five matches.
- Griezmann reached 10 goal contributions (7g/3a) in his ninth MLS appearance tonight, surpassing former Orlando City forward Nani as the player with the most goal contributions in his first nine MLS matches with the Lions.
- Midfielder Joran Gerbet recorded his first assist of the season across all competitions on Griezmann’s first goal and his second all-time for Orlando.
- Defender Griffin Dorsey provided the secondary assist on Griezmann’s first goal, his third of the campaign across all competitions.
- Iván Angulo scored his second goal of the year across all competitions, marking his 14th all-time for the Lions.
- Designated Player Martín Ojeda added his second assist of the campaign across all competitions, good for his 44th all-time.
- Ojeda now sits just three helpers behind former Lion Mauricio Pereyra for the Club record.
- Captain Robin Jansson provided the secondary assist on Angulo’s tally, his third of the year and eight all-time across all competitions for Orlando City.
- Justin Ellis recorded his ninth assist of the season on Griezmann’s second goal.
- Interim head coach Martín Perelman made one change to his starting lineup from the club’s previous match against San Diego FC, inserting Martín Ojeda into the starting XI.
- Defender Adrián Marín missed the match with a thigh injury, while midfielder Braian Ojeda was unavailable with a foot injury.
