Carles Gil hits milestones as Revolution rally past Columbus

“We practice that and we work a lot on those situations,” said Mitrovic. “Every player in the box has certain roles and our players have certain roles and when it comes to set pieces, it’s how good he (Langoni) will put the ball there.”

The game turned ugly in the 69th minute when Crew central midfielder Andre Gomes inflicted a hard, retaliatory takedown on Gil. A scrum immediately ensued and intensified when Revolution keeper Matt Turner left his cage and confronted Gomes at midfield. Both Gomes and Turner were issued yellow cards by referee Timothy Ford when order was restored.

“There are always emotions on the field,” said Mitrovic. “I think of us as a family and I love these players and that was how I felt at that moment. They went against Carles and it was an organic reaction from the players.

“In those moments we can’t lose our emotions and overreact. But when it comes to our captain, we have to protect him.”

Both teams misfired on quality scoring chances early in the first half. Turgeman’s uncontested bid from the middle of the penalty area in the 11th minute sailed inches over the crossbar. Crew right midfielder Hugo Picard missed wide on an open shot from the right half of the box in the 13th minute. Turner deftly denied Picard again on a shot from close quarters in the 23rd minute.

Turner lost his bid for a third straight clean sheet on a nice transition rush by the Crew in the 25th minute. Speedy striker Diego Rossi made a deep charge down the right flank and fired a cross through the penalty area. Midfielder Max Arfsten collected the feed, pivoted and booted it past the diving Turner for his second of the season.

The lead emboldened the Crew to mount a sustained assault in the New England zone during the final five minutes of regulation and four minutes of stoppage time.

“The short successes always help in the long term,” said Mitrovic. “We were down 1-0 against a very good team and we won, 2-1. We had some very good situations in the first half where we felt we were just being patient and setting up on the field for us was very good. Keep executing those simple passes and rotations we had on the field and having control of the game and creating scoring chances.”

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