Julián Carranza’s goals spark the Union to a 3-1 comeback win at New York City FC

NEW YORK — The Union came from behind in impressive fashion Saturday to extend their regular-season unbeaten streak to seven games with a 3-1 win over New York City FC at Citi Field.

NYCFC’s Gabriel Pereira opened the scoring in the 30th minute, then in first-half stoppage time, Julián Carranza unleashed two superb goals for the Union (7-4-3, 24 points). Dániel Gazdag finished the scoring with a penalty-kick goal in the 53rd minute.

Union manager Jim Curtin rolled out the same 3-5-2 formation and starting lineup as last weekend’s game against New England, and he had many good reasons to.

First, New York (4-6-4, 16 points) has elite wingers in Pereira and Talles Magno, and central attackers in Santi Rodríguez and Richy Ledezma, who swap between the midfield and front line.

A 3-5-2 provides extra fortitude on the flanks, with centerbacks Jakob Glesnes and Damion Lowe backstopping wingbacks Kai Wagner and Olivier Mbaizo, while also flanking Jack Elliott at the center of the three. The centerback trio then had Leon Flach and José Andrés Martínez in front of it, assigned to frustrate Rodríguez and Ledezma.

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Second, the Union were without Alejandro Bedoya because he isn’t recovered yet from a quadriceps injury that also kept him out of the New England game. Curtin hopes he’ll be back for Wednesday’s home game against Charlotte FC (7:30 p.m., Apple TV, free).

Third, and as important as anything, the 3-5-2 setup against New England delivered a 3-0 win — one of the Union’s most impressive performances of the season so far.

Though the Union registered just two shots in the first 20 minutes, they earned a notably high number of set pieces: three free kicks and four corner kicks. One of the free kicks, an 18th-minute long range hit by Wagner, nearly caught New York goalkeeper Luis Barranza out of position, but he made a diving stop.

The Union’s seeming momentum went out the window half an hour into the game. Martínez committed a terrible giveaway in the center of the field, Ledezma went off the other way, and the ball went from him to Rodriguez and back, then to Pereira for a first-time finish.

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Five minutes later, Carranza put the ball in the net for the Union off a pretty buildup sequence from Mbaizo and Gazdag, but the Argentine was clearly offside when the ball came his way.

At the start of four minutes of first-half stoppage time, Elliott hit a hopeful ball halfway down the field and just as far in the air. Carranza tracked it, got under it 16 yards from goal, and slammed it past Barranza. The big section of traveling Union fans behind the third-base dugout — at the same end of the field where Carranza scored — erupted with noise.

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Just over two minutes later, Andre Blake caught a Rodríguez corner kick and launched a Union counterattack with a rolled pass to Martínez. He took off down the right side, and just before reaching the midfield stripe hit a cross-field ball over New York’s back line.

Mikael Uhre controlled the ball, Gazdag ran past him to the left, and while the Pigeons watched Gazdag, Carranza swept up the middle unmarked. Uhre saw Carranza coming all the way, put the ball in Carranza’s path, and he let rip from 12 yards. It was as clinical of a start-to-finish play as you’ll see.

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Three minutes into the second half, Thiago Martins took Carranza down from behind on a breakaway, and referee Guido Gonzalez pointed to the spot and gave Martins a yellow card.

Replays showed that the contact started outside the box, and the video replay crew summoned Gonzalez to the sideline monitor. Gonzalez took a long look at the play, and an official message was posted on the stadium video screen that the play was under review for a potential red card.

Everyone else in the building assumed that Gonzalez would end up changing the penalty kick to a free kick, and showing Martins red instead of yellow. Instead, Gonzalez stuck with both of his original calls, leaving both teams’ fans unsatisfied.

But Union fans cheered up soon thereafter when Gazdag thumped home yet another penalty kick, his ninth tally from the spot and 10th goal overall of the year.

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New York manager Nick Cushing made a trio of substitutions over the next 10 minutes to try to spark his team, including bringing striker prospect Gabe Segal and big-money young winger Talles Magno off the bench.

Curtin didn’t make a move until the 74th, when Jesús Bueno replaced Uhre. Sending in a defensive midfielder for a striker obviously isn’t a like-for-like move, but at that point the Union were just looking to finish off the game. So Gazdag moved up to the front line, and Bueno went to work jamming the midfield with Flach and Martínez.

The Union’s second and final substitution came in the 86th, when Carranza exited for Chris Donovan. By then, the game was all but settled, and the big caucus of visiting fans chanted olé as their team passed the ball around — a long tradition for soccer fans to show their team is winning.