MONTREAL – Even when Ignacio Piatti is less than completely healthy, his play can still carry the Montreal Impact.
After missing the Impact’s past two games because of a hip and groin injury, Piatti scored on a penalty kick in added time at the end of the first half of Montreal's match against Atlanta United on Saturday for his second goal in four starts.
Piatti’s goal sent Montreal into halftime even 1-1 against Atlanta in the Impact’s first game of the season at Stade Saputo. Anthony Jackson-Hamel sent the crowd of 17,144 home happy with his first MLS goal of the season late in second half stoppage time for a 2-1 win, Montreal’s first of the season.
“I’m not 100 percent but I wanted to play, that’s for sure,” Piatti said. “But I finished well, I feel good, and I think this week we’ll work on it so I feel even better for Philadelphia [next Saturday].”
Piatti had a chance to say hello before the game to fellow Argentine and Atlanta United coach Gerardo Martino; the Impact midfielder said that the former Barcelona and Argentina national team coach hadn't realized he would be able to play.
“It’s very important for us when we’re playing at home to win,” Piatti said. “It’s not important if we’re playing well or if we’re playing bad, but the important thing is we won today and when we play at Saputo Stadium it’s important to take the three points. We’re happy today. We know Atlanta has a very good team, they have a lot of good players, but I think we played well today and we won.”
While Piatti’s return was bad news for Atlanta, it was well received by his Impact teammates.
“He’s like the pilot when he’s flying, so it was good to have the main captain back on the team,” Impact forward Dominic Oduro said. “He orchestrates everything for us and he showed his brilliancy today so it was good to have him on the team. He gave us a little bit of spark. I thought we played well and having his presence was a boost.”
Impact coach Mauro Biello said that Piatti’s presence was felt throughout his lineup, even if he was performing at less than full strength.
“Obviously Piatti’s one of the best players in the league and you see that in his qualities,” Biello said. “In the first half, every time he had the ball there was something happening, something dangerous and he’s that type of player, like the Giovincos, the Villas, and these types of players in the league. [Miguel] Almiron, on the other end, on this team, is a very good player also. You see that those types of players when they’re able to express themselves, yeah, they make the difference and that’s why they’re Designated Players.
"And Nacho, he loves it here, he wants to win here, he probably wasn’t at 100 percent and he wanted to play and he felt good. And now hopefully we can continue to help get him to 100 percent because when he is, he’s very effective.”
