NEW YORK (Monday, April 18, 2022) – New York City FC forward Valentín Castellanos was voted the Major League Soccer Player of the Week presented by Continental Tire for the seventh week of the 2022 MLS season.
Castellanos, who was scoreless on the season entering Sunday’s match, quickly reinserted himself into the Golden Boot race with a club-record four goals in NYCFC’s 6-0 win over Real Salt Lake (Watch All Four Goals Here). Last year’s Golden Boot winner became the 14th player in MLS history to score four goals in a single game.
With his first goal of the season, Castellanos opened scoring in the 9th minute coming clean off a corner kick and finishing with a strong header to give NYCFC an early 1-0 lead (Watch Here). He added his second and third scores via penalty kicks on either side of the half, with scores in the 40th minute (Watch Here) and 57th minute (Watch Here). Castellanos closed his historic afternoon by cleaning up a mishit clearance from the RSL ‘keeper for his fourth and final goal in the 80th minute (Watch Here).
Castellanos, who also had a hat trick on November 1, 2020, is the first player in NYCFC history with multiple hat tricks with the club. He also earned MLS Player of the Week honors following that match.
New York City FC returns to action on Sunday, April 24 as they welcome resurgent Toronto FC to Citi Field (5 p.m. ET, MLS LIVE on ESPN+).
The MLS Player of the Week presented by Continental Tire 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.
