Did Real Salt Lake’s Chicho Arango just score the MLS goal of the year?

Nobody in Major League Soccer has more goals than Real Salt Lake’s Chicho Arango.

Now there might not be anybody with a better goal.

The Colombian striker scored the first of his three goals in Saturday’s 5-1 win over Austin FC in spectacular fashion, blasting a shot from beyond the midfield line that sailed over the head of the scrambling goalkeeper and dipped just under the crossbar.

Arango said he originally looked up to see if left back Alex Katranis was open on the wing but noticed Austin goalie Brad Stuver off his line. Then Arango changed his mind.

“The people that shoot are the ones that score,” he said afterward through a translator.

The 16th-minute goal — the 50th of Arango’s MLS career — set the tone for RSL, which went on to win and extend its unbeaten streak to 13 games.

Salt Lake is now 9-6-2 and sitting in first place in the West at the midway point of the season.

Saturday’s win was RSL’s second five-goal performance in the last two weeks.

After Arango’s opening strike, forward Anderson Julio scored his fourth and fifth goals of the season in the 24th and 31st minutes.

At that point, Arango said he told his Ecuadorian partner he needed to finish the game with a hat trick.

But it would be Arango who would accomplish the feat for the second time this season.

RSL’s captain headed in an Andrew Brody cross in the final moments of the first half and then completed his hat trick with a second-half penalty.

“He’s having an MVP type season,” RSL coach Pablo Mastroeni said. “… He’s come to a club that believes in him and that knows the difference he can make. Wearing the armband this year has definitely not only helped Chicho, because he’s a person who wants to take on responsibility, but has made our team better. I can’t say enough about what he means to the group, to the staff and the club, but more importantly, to the other 10 players on the field with him.”

Arango continued his quest for the league’s Golden Boot, pushing his total to a league-leading 16 on the season. DC United’s Christian Benteke has 13 and Miami’s Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez each have 12 goals to date.