Round 11 best 11 picks to start on the bench, will Lee Kang-in’s ‘promising UCL’ turn around?
Can ‘golden boy’ Lee Kang-in (Paris Saint-Germain) pull off another upset?
Luis Enrique’s Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) will take on Dortmund (Germany) at BVB Stadion Dortmund in the German state of Westphalia at 4:00 a.m. ET on February 2 in the first leg of the 2023-2024 UEFA Champions League (UCL) quarterfinals. The two teams met in Group F of the competition. They will meet again in the quarterfinals. PSG won the first leg 2-0 in September last year. In the second leg, they drew 1-1.
PSG is going for the “quadruple crown” this season. They have already collected two trophies. PSG won the first one in the Trophée des Champions (Super Cup). They recently clinched the French Ligue 1 title early. It’s the 50th trophy in the club’s history. PSG’s challenge is far from over. They’ve reached the UCL quarterfinals and the Coupe de France final.
The spotlight is on Lee Kang-in’s toes. Lee has always been the go-to guy in big games and when it matters most. In the Super Cup in January, he scored the winning goal to lift his team to the top. He was named the tournament’s MVP. He also scored the ‘final’ goal in the Ligue 1 title with a fantastic pass. The official Ligue 1 social networking site called it the “winning goal.” Lee was also honored by being named to the Best 11 of the 31st round of Ligue 1.
Lee has been a winner since his first year in France. He joined PSG from Real Mallorca (Spain) ahead of this season. At just 23 years old, he has won titles in all five of Europe’s “big leagues. Only three South Korean players have ever won the top five European leagues. Park Ji-sung, the technical director of Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors, won the English Premier League (EPL) title in 2006-2007, 2007-2008, 2008-2009, and 2010-2011 with Manchester United. Jung Woo-young reached the top of the German Bundesliga with Bayern Munich in the 2018-2019 season. Kim Min-jae conquered the Italian Serie A with Napoli in the 2022-2023 season.
Lee played 1247 minutes in 20 Ligue 1 games this season. He made 15 starts, scoring two goals and providing three assists. In the UCL, he made eight appearances (328 minutes), scoring 먹튀검증 one goal and providing one assist. In total, he has four goals and four assists, including one in the Super Cup.
However, it is unclear if Lee will start against Dortmund. According to French media outlet RMC Sport, Lee is expected to start from the bench. They predicted that Enrique would start with Vitinha, Fabian Luis, and Warren Zaire Emery instead of Lee. However, Lee had a strong showing at UCL, scoring his debut goal for PSG on the UCL stage. There are plenty of chances for an upset.
Meanwhile, ahead of Lee Kang-in, “monster defender” Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich) made his UCL quarterfinal debut. Kim started the first leg of the quarterfinals against Real Madrid (Spain) on April 1. However, his performance was somewhat disappointing as he conceded a goal. The match ended 2-2. Bayern Munich head coach Thomas Tuchel said after the game, “For the first goal, I let Vinicius Junior move too much. He was already too far out before he made the pass, so he missed the move. We were too aggressive. (For the second goal) we outnumbered them and I was greedy in that situation. My teammates came to help me to stop the striker. I was too greedy in both situations,” he said.