Lee Kang-in, who won the top five European leagues for the fourth time as a Korean, challenges the quadruple that even Lionel Messi could not achieve.
PSG had a 3-3 draw with Le Havre in the 31st round of the French Ligue 1 in the 2023-24 season at Parc des Princes in Paris, France, at 4 a.m. on the 28th (Korea time). If they had won on this day, they could have won on their own early days, but they were in a situation where they had to postpone their win by one game with a draw.
Luck has followed. AS Monaco lost 2-3 to Olympique Lyon in the 31st round of the French Ligue 1 in the 2023-24 season at Grupama Stadium in Lyon at 2 a.m. on Saturday, a loss that kept Monaco at 58 points.
Of course, PSG will win the title. With three games to go until the end of the league, the difference between PSG (70 points) and Monaco is 12 points. Even if PSG loses all of its three remaining games, it cannot mathematically allow Monaco to come from behind. As a result, PSG confirmed its victory early on.
He has become the fourth Korean player to win in the top five European leagues (England, Italy, Germany, Spain, and France). Park is the first Korean player to win major European leagues. Park Ji-sung wore a Manchester United uniform in 2005, and he won the Premier League (PL) Championship in 2007-08, 2008-09, and 2010-11.
The second player is Jung Woo-young (now Stuttgart). Jung experienced winning the German Bundesliga with Bayern Munich in the 2018-19 season. This was the first Korean to win the Bundesliga. However, Jung was a promising player at the time and only played one game in the Bundesliga and won the title.
The most recent player to win one of Europe’s top five leagues is Kim Min-jae. Kim Min-jae helped win the Scudetto (Italy’s Serie A Championship) for the first time in 33 years while wearing a Neapolitan jersey during the 2022-23 season. At the time, Kim Min-jae led his team to victory with an outstanding performance in 35 league matches.
In just one season, Lee Kang-in was also named as one of Europe’s top five league winners. Lee contributed greatly to his early victory. Against Le Havre, Lee started the game on the bench. The first team that laughed was Le Havre. In the 19th minute, Le Havre played the ball from the right side through the center to the left. Christopher O’Ferry got a pass from Emanuel Xavi and shot without interference from the defense to score the first goal.
PSG launched a counterattack. Bradley Barcola balanced Warren Zaire-Emily’s grounder cross into the opposite post in the 29th minute. Le Havre didn’t back down, either. Roik Nego connected the ball with a sensational backfoot pass inside the penalty box in the 38th minute. Andre Ayew caught a shot and hit the net with a bold shot even with one defender in front.
Trailing 1-2 in the first half, PSG pulled out a substitute card as soon as it started the second half. Seni Mayulu, Lee Kang-in, and Kylian Mbappe were used in place of Barcola, Marco Asensio, and Usman Dembele. Despite the change, PSG conceded one more goal. A penalty kick (PK) came out in the 15th minute of the second half, and Abdoulaye Toure was the kicker, widening the gap.
PSG didn’t give up. In the 33rd minute of the second half, Ashraf Hakimi, who had been rushing through Gonzalo Hamus’ pass after releasing pressure from the midfield, scored the goal. PSG scored a dramatic equalizer. Four of the six minutes into the second half, Hamus headed a cross from Lee Kang-in’s right side in front of the opponent’s defense to score the winner. In the end, the game ended 3-3.
Lee Kang-in, who played for 45 minutes on the day, played as a right wing forward, revitalizing his team’s attack. Lee Kang-in recorded one assist, 37 ball touches, 89 percent pass success rate, one key pass, four crosses (one successful), one long pass (one successful), and one shot (one effective shot). According to the soccer statistics media “Sopascore,” Lee Kang-in received the highest rating among his replacements after Hamus with seven points.
Lee Kang-in’s dramatic help led to PSG’s early victory. As a result, PSG won the title regardless of the results of its three remaining matches until the end of the league. Therefore, it is now possible to play the first and second matches of the upcoming UEFA Champions League semifinals against Dortmund.
After the game, PSG’s victory was not confirmed. In response, Luis Enrique said, “We conceded three goals against Le Havre, a very efficient team. We were under a lot of pressure. We made a few mistakes, but we had a lot of chances and put a lot of effort into it. We didn’t win the game mathematically yet, but we did a lot of work.” “You can say we are the champions. We are happy tonight.”
