New York City FC 2 – 0 New York Red Bulls 2025 Hudson River Derby
NEW YORK, (Citi Field May 17, 2025), Queens — New York City FC triumphed 2-0 over the Red Bulls at Citi Field on Saturday afternoon with attendance of 30,804 fans, Alonso Martínez opened the scoring with a stunning long-range strike after 13 minutes, before Maxi Moralez sealed the win in the second half with a well-taken goal.
Midfielder Maxi Moralez scored his first goal of the 2025 MLS Regular Season, scoring in the 50th minute to double New York City’s advantage.
Moralez becomes the oldest player to have scored in Major League Soccer this season, at 38 years and 79 days.
Moralez is the second New York City FC player to score a goal at age 38 or older, joining former New York Midfielder Frank Lampard.
Forward Alonso Martínez scored his seventh goal of the year, which is the most by any New York City FC player this season.
Midfielder Justin Haak recorded his first assist of the season, setting up Alonso Martínez to open the scoring for the ‘Boys in Blue’.
New York City FC scored multiple goals for the first time in eight matches, with the previous time coming against Atlanta United on March 29 with three goals scored.
Additionally, New York City FC has held its opponent scoreless in the first half for the fourth consecutive match in MLS play.
The ‘Boys in Blue’ marked their sixth clean sheet of the season, which is one more than the team recorded all of last season.
The ‘Boys in Blue’ denied the Red Bulls any shots on target in the opening half.
This is the fifth time New York City has done this to an opponent (v. New York Red Bulls, D.C. United, Philadelphia Union, Orlando City SC, and Los Angeles FC) this season.
New York City FC holds an all-time record of 11-11-4 (W-L-D) against the Red Bulls, totaling 34 goals scored and 38 goals conceded.
This is the third consecutive regular season game where New York City has come out victorious against the Red Bulls.
In those three games, New York City outscored their opponent nine to two.
In home matches against RBNY, New York City FC has a record of 8-3-2, with 21 goals scored and 18 conceded.
New York City has scored in 10 of their 13 home matches against the Red Bulls, including seven games where they netted two or more goals.
New York City FC’s last clean sheet before this afternoon against the Red Bulls came on September 16, 2023, in a 0-0 draw at Yankee Stadium.
New York City FC has scored 32 goals at Citi Field in over 20 games.
In 11 appearances at Citi Field, Goalkeeper Matt Freese has kept seven clean sheets.
The team’s overall win record at Citi is 12-3-6. Midfielder Maxi Moralez scored his first goal of the 2025 MLS Regular Season.
This is Moralez’s 28th regular season goal of his Club career with New York City, and his 34th goal contribution.
This marks back-to-back regular season games against the Red Bulls where Moralez has made goal contributions (2G, 1A).
Forward Alonso Martínez scored his seventh goal and his first assist of the 2025 MLS Regular Season.
Martínez has scored three goals while playing against the Red Bulls.
Midfielder Justin Haak recorded his first assist of the season and first against the Red Bulls, setting up Alonso Martínez to open the scoring for the ‘Boys in Blue’.
This was Haak’s first goal contribution of the 2025 campaign.
Goalkeeper Matt Freese maintained his sixth clean sheet of the season, which ties his career high of six that was set last season.
During one of his clean sheets (v. Columbus Crew in August) Freese was substituted off in the match and the Club eventually conceded a goal afterwards, contributing to his six clean sheets and the team’s total of five on the season.
NEW YORK CITY FC COACH PASCAL JANSEN
On Forward Alonso Martínez’ goals coming from jumping on opponents’ mistakes and opportunities, and how he can be put into more situations like this…
“Well, if you look at today’s game, I think [Alonso Martínez] was in a lot of those situations described. One of our principles is forcing mistakes on opponents by the intensity that we play—in possession and out of possession. When we regain possession, we try to go forward as fast as we can, because then Alonso, or Juli [Julián Fernández], or Maxi [Moralez], or Hannes [Wolf] will be in a good space, in a good situation in order to go forward. And that’s what he did, and that’s what’s going to stay the same going forward. I’m really happy for Alonso—after missing a few chances in previous games—that he got it in the back of the net.”
On winning the game by more than a goal…
“If you look at the first half, I think we should’ve already scored two or three goals, but that’s somewhat of a habit of ours so far this season—missing chances. So, I’m happy with the second goal, because it also gave us a bit of rest. But my team was very determined to keep a clean sheet as well, so I’m happy with both [results].”
NEW YORK CITY MIDFIELDER JUSTIN HAAK
On today’s win over the Red Bulls…
“It felt great. The stadium was amazing, and the fans all came out to support us after what’s been a difficult week. This win is perfect for us, and hopefully we can build on it. Getting the assist for Alonso [Martínez]—I can’t take too much credit for that; it was mostly his shot, but it felt good to contribute. If I can keep doing that, it helps a lot. I’m just happy we got the win today.”
On whether the Red Bulls conceding possession and playing on the counter was part of the game plan…
“It’s not something we talked about specifically for today’s game, but I was just speaking to Hannes [Wolf], and we’re really strong on the counterattack with the players we have. It’s one of the weapons on our team, and today we used it well.”
NEW YORK CITY DEFENDER TAYVON GRAY
On the team’s midweek preparation and first-half approach to absorbing pressure and countering…
“Defensively—just do your battle. Win your duels. We matched up pretty well. If you noticed, our wingers dropped pretty low at times. We made their [Red Bulls] back line make plays. We did well letting them have the ball, then forcing them to go long and winning those duels. We executed that really well.”
On the importance of earning a win against the Red Bulls…
“It’s very important. We had a few games recently where we should have won, or where a draw felt like a loss because we didn’t get the result. In the past, teams were looking at us like, ‘They’re not really performing or scoring—this is a chance.'”
NEW YORK CITY MIDFIELDER AIDEN O’NEILL
On what it means to play in his first Hudson River Derby and to beat the Red Bulls…
“It was unbelievable. Being involved in my first derby here in New York—to get the win doesn’t get much better. It’s massive. We know how important this is for the fans, for the Club, and for ourselves. We came here to win, and that’s exactly what we did.”
On playing as a midfielder with the ‘Boys in Blue’…
“We’ve got a lot of competition in there, which is really good. Competition brings out the best in each other. We’re only going to get better and get to know each other more, and that fluidity in play will come.”
Goal – NYC – 13′ – Alonso Martínez [16] – Click Here
Goal – NYC – 50′ – Maxi Moralez [10] – Click Here
13’ – NYC – Alonso Martínez [16]
Scored with a right footed shot from the central position outside the box with an xG of 4% to the upper left central zone. Assisted by Justin Haak [80].
50’ – NYC – Maxi Moralez [10]
Scored with a left footed shot from the center of the box with an xG of 26% to the central zone. Assisted by Alonso Martínez [16].
NYC
Yellow Cards (1)
31’ – Julián Fernández [11] – Tactical Foul
Red Cards (0)
RBNY
Yellow Cards (3)
42’ – Noah Eile [3] – Tactical Foul
54’ – Sean Nealis [15] – Tactical Foul
63’ – Kyle Duncan [6] – Tactical Foul
Red Cards (0)
Referee: Allen Chapman
Ast. Referee 1: Corey Richardson
Ast. Referee 2: Kevin Klinger
Fourth Official: Matt Thompson
VAR: Greg Dopka
Ast. VAR: John Krill
The latest installment of the Hudson River Derby took center stage on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Citi Field as New York City FC hosted the Red Bulls.
The two teams entered the game with identical records so far this season — five wins, five losses, and three ties during the MLS regular season.
Head Coach Pascal Jansen made one change to the side that drew with D.C. United midweek, as Aidan O’Neill came into midfield in place of Jonathan Shore.
The tempo was high from the off, as both teams set about trying to establish dominance early on.
After several half-chances for City, the game exploded into life in the 13th minute when Alonso Martínez opened the scoring with his 25th goal for the Club.
The Costa Rican collected a pass from Justin Haak and, after turning, produced a ferocious effort from distance that flew past Red Bulls goalkeeper Carlos Coronel.
He was handed a great chance to make it two not long after, when Julián Fernández lofted a ball over the top.
Martínez was forced to wrestle with the attentions of one defender as he made his way toward goal, with his eventual shot saved by Coronel.
The Red Bulls then registered their first look at goal through Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting. The forward found space on the right-hand side of the area but saw his shot hit the side netting.
City came close to doubling their lead on several occasions heading into halftime, including one effort from Hannes Wolf that was cleared off the line.
The second period saw no changes for either side, as the Red Bulls registered the first chance of the half through Dennis Gjengaar. The Norwegian’s shot curled toward goal but was comfortably saved by Matt Freese.
Instead, it would be City that found the next goal of the game, through Maxi Moralez. Arriving after a mistake by Coronel was pounced on by Martínez; he squared it to Moralez, who then showed tremendous composure to slot the ball home.
At the hour mark, Jansen turned to his bench for the first time to introduce three changes. Mitja Ilenič, Agustín Ojeda, and Jonathan Shore came on for Perea, Fernández, and Tayvon Gray.
In the 70th minute, a Red Bulls corner saw the ball pop loose to Cameron Harper, but his effort hit the side netting. He was handed another chance minutes later but again failed to convert.
City made further changes in the 76th minute, as Birk Risa and Hannes Wolf departed and were replaced by Mounsef Bakrar and Nico Cavallo.
As the half wore on, City began to exert greater control over the contest. The Red Bulls managed a half-chance through Wikelman Carmona as stoppage time approached, but he missed the target.
City nearly made it 3-0 in stoppage time when Martínez crashed a second long-range effort off the crossbar. That would prove to be the final notable action of the night, sealing an important 2-0 win for City in the Hudson River Derby.
UP NEXT: The ‘Boys in Blue’ return to The Bronx to face the Chicago Fire on Sunday, May 25, at 3:00pm ET at Yankee Stadium. |
