Luciano Acosta explains why he refused to celebrate his goal against DC United

Luciano Acosta says the refusal to celebrate his goal against DC United on Saturday was out of "respect" for his former club.

The Argentine scored his fifth goal of the season to cut FC Cincinnati's deficit in half at 4-2 against DC United on Saturday. Acosta danced his way around a couple of defenders before firing a deflected shot beyond Bill Hamid.

Acosta then proceeded to jog back to the halfway line, with the only hint of a celebration being to high-five a couple of his teammates.

Of course, Acosta played 137 times for DC United between 2017 and 2019, scoring 25 goals and setting up a further 29. He also forged a short-lived yet memorable partnership with Wayne Rooney during the former England international's time at Audi Field.

And it was this history with the Black and Red that Acosta - who joined Cincy from Liga MX side Atlas in March - highlighted as the reason he declined to celebrate.

“Every goal is obviously great," he told reporters. "It’s been a while since I’ve been back to D.C. and it’s always beautiful. I didn’t celebrate out of respect for that team, for the fans. I spent a lot of years here, so that was what that was.”

Cincinnati were unable to build on Acosta's goal and mount a comeback, going down 4-2 at Audi Field for their third consecutive loss.

Though he was pleased to get on the scoresheet once again, Acosta was left "frustrated" by another poor result.

“Very frustrated with that result, but we move forward," he added. "We keep working, we move on to the next one. As far as the goal, unfortunately it didn’t do much for the team and for the result. Personally, it’s always good to get a goal.”

Saturday's loss leaves Cincy 13th in the Eastern Conference, propped up only by Toronto FC with the playoffs once again looking well beyond them.

Jaap Stam's men travel to Toronto on Wednesday before they host the New York Red Bulls next weekend.