Son Heung-min’s header assists tie-breaking goal on Wednesday

South Korean football star Son Heung-min, 27, has scored another offensive point. When the Hotspur and the Olympiakos were tied at 2:2 on Wednesday in their last Group B game in the 2019-2020 Champions League, Serge Aurier scored a tie-breaking goal in the 73rd minute assisted by Son’s header. Tottenham beat Olympiakos 4:2, grabbing a spot in the Champions League last 16 with 3 wins, 1 draw, and 1 loss following Group B leader FC Bayern Munich, which recorded five wins.

Son has scored offensive points in all of the five recent matches, delivering an assist against Everton on November 3, scoring two goals and providing an assist against Serbia’s Crvena Zvezda on the 7th, and making a goal against the Sheffield United on the 10th and the West Ham United on the 23rd, respectively. Son’s offensive points for the season have jumped to 15.

Tottenham’s offense has improved since new manager Jose Mourinho joined the team. He put Harry Kane on the front line and Son, Dele Alli, and Lucas Moura on the second line for the match against the West Ham United. When the team conceded two goals in a row on the 6th and the 19th minutes, Mourinho took the risk of changing a midfielder on the 29th minute. Defensive midfielder Eric Dier was replaced by Christian Eriksen, bringing a return of Tottenham’s symbolic offense format “DESK”ㅡDele Alli, Christian Eriksen, Son Heung-min and Harry Kane.

Alli and Kane added two goals on the stroke of halftime and in the 50th minute, respectively, to even the score at 2:2 in Wednesday’s game. Alli’s cross led to Son’s header, which produced Aurier’s volley shoot in the 73rd minute. Tottenham added another goal in the 77th minute, when Kane scored a header from Eriksen’s free-kick. Kane, who scored six Champions League goals this season, became the fastest player to reach 20 Champions League goals in 24 matches. The previous record was set by Alessandro Del Piero of Juventus, who reached 20 Champions League goals in 26 matches.


Won-Hong Lee bluesky@donga.com