Son shows impressive play despite Tottenham’s loss to Liverpool

Son Heung-min displayed impressive play but could not smile. “The Dream League” has not allowed the Korean player to win the title just yet.

Tottonham Hotspur FC lost 0-2 to Liverpool at the UEFA Champions League final, which took place at Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid, Spain on Sunday. Tottonham, which had lost 1-2 in both of its two matches against Liverpool FC in the 2018-2019 season of the English Premier League, again failed to win over Liverpool in the UCL final, which the former advanced for the first time since its founding.

Tottenham manager Mauricio Pochettino fielded as starting members what is called the “DESK line” for the first time in weeks on the day. It was the first time since the first match of the UCL’s quarterfinals against Manchester City in April that the entire members of DESK, which stands for Midfielders Dele (D) Alli, Christian Eriksen (E), striker Son (S) Heung-min, and Harry Kane (K), played together in a match. It was because Kane had suffered injury in his left ankle in that match. For this reason, Lucas Moura, who had a hat trick in the second game of the semifinals against AFC Ajax, was not included in Tottenham’s starting member roster.

Kane, who ranks first in overall goals in the team this season, failed to meet expectations. He kicked one shot but was hardly menacing. “Pochettino’s gamble of fielding Kane was not successful. Kane failed to have any influence on the match,” the BBC reported.

Son Heung-min was the only player who stood out in Tottenham’s offense, which seemed stuffy and hopeless at best. Son kicked three on-target shots after the half way of the second half. His shots were blocked by Liverpool goalie Alisson Becker, but it was impressive to see his unchecked dribbling that was followed by bold shootings.

Son has become the first Korean player in eight years that has played in the UCL final after Park Ji-sung of Manchester United in the 2010-2011 season.

With the UCL final now over, Son has concluded the season with 20 goals (12 goals in the regular season, four in UCL, three in the League Cup, and one in the FA Cup). His total number of this season is one goal shy of his career record (21 goals in 2016-2017 season). In the UCL, he has 12 goals overall including the four goals scored in this year’s event, and has become the Asian player with most goals overall in the league, beating over Maksim Shatskikh of Uzbekistan with 11 goals.


Seung-Kun Lee why@donga.com