French professional soccer club Paris Saint-Germain’s (PSG) Lee Kang-in played the full match in a Korean jersey to help his team to victory.
PSG won 2-0 in the 14th round of the 2023-2024 French Ligue 1 away match against Le Havre at the Stade Oceanique in Le Havre, France, on Wednesday.
After being threatened early in the match by the sending off of first-choice goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, PSG played the full 80 minutes with 10 men to secure a valuable victory.
With the win, PSG extends its unbeaten run to nine games (eight wins and one draw), including seven straight league wins, to 33 points and extends its lead at the top of Ligue 1 to four points over second-place Nice (29 points).
The PSG players wore white away jerseys with their names in Korean script above their numbers.
This is the first time in the club’s history that PSG has worn a “Korean jersey” after the arrival of Lee Kang-in, who has become a favorite of Korean fans this season.
Lee started in the midfield and stayed there until the end of the game.
PSG was dealt a blow early in the match when midfielder Fabian Luis was forced off with a shoulder injury.
After making one unexpected substitution, replacing Luis with Manuel Ugarte, PSG were outplayed by the hosts, Le Havre, and were dealt a blow in the 10th minute when Donnarumma was sent off.
As Donnarumma stepped up to the penalty area to deal with an opponent’s goal kick, he raised his foot too high in a challenge with Jos Casimir and was immediately shown a straight red card.
PSG, who eventually dropped striker Bradley Barcola and brought on goalkeeper Arnaut Tenas, took the lead in the 23rd minute.
Lee Kang-in won the ball with his chest near the center circle and immediately broke down the right before sliding the ball to Ousmane Dembele, who slotted home a right-footed shot for Kylian Mbappe’s 15th league goal of the season.
In the 32nd minute, Mbappe rattled the net with a right-footed shot following a precise forward pass from Lee Kang-In, but the goal was ruled out for offside, denying PSG a second.
In the second half, Le Havre pushed forward with numerical superiority, but Tenace’s ‘save’ saved PSG.
Tenas, a 2001-born goalkeeper from Barcelona’s B team in Spain, hadn’t played a game in a PSG jersey before this season, but he made a brilliant performance on his Ligue 1 debut in an unexpected opportunity.
In the 33rd minute, Tenas used his feet and legs to stop back-to-back shots from Nabil Alioui on the left side of the goal area.
Having held on, PSG drove a wedge in the 44th minute when Vitinha’s right-footed shot from the right side of the penalty arc was deflected in by an opponent.
Le Havre, who could not catch PSG in the end, remain in ninth place with 16 points.
On the day, Fúscore.com gave Vitinha a man-of-the-match rating of 8.5, compared to 7.1 for Lee. In the Footmob rating, Bittinha received the highest score of 8.6, while Lee received 7.0. 토토사이트
