Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), which did not include Lee Kang-in in its entry, beat tough opponent Stadbrest to reach the quarterfinals of the Cup de France (FA Cup).
PSG, which played the round of 16 in 2023-2024 Coupe de France at Parc des Princes in Paris, France, won 3-1 against Brest on the 8th (Korea time).
Kylian Mbappe scored the first goal in the 34th minute with the help of Warren Zairemiri. Three minutes later, Danilu Pereira added a goal with the help of Usman Dembele, leading the first half by two goals. Brest striker Sutib Munier scored a goal back in the 20th minute of the second half, but PSG kept the victory alive with Gonzalo Hamus scoring a decisive goal with the help of Ashraf Hakimi in the second half.
Mbappe is the king of the coupe de France. He has the all-time scoring record due to the nature of the tournament, in which he can score goals en masse when encountering teams in the lower leagues. He has scored 50 offensive points (35 goals and 15 assists) in 28 matches in the coupe de France. Notably, he has scored as many as 11 goals in the recent four matches.
Lee Kang-in was not included in the entry list. Korea was eliminated after losing 0-2 to Jordan in the semifinals of the 2023 Qatar Asian Cup on Wednesday, and Lee Kang-in returned to PSG immediately at the request of his team. In rare cases, Iñaki Williams (Kana) and Minamino Takumi (Japan) rushed to play in their teams’ matches after the national team was eliminated from the tournament.
Unlike the above players, however, Lee Kang-in has been a solid starting member of the Korean national team. He played full-time in all the games including two overtime games, and thus had the longest playing time among all the players in the competition so far. Considering PSG’s thick players, there was no need to forcefully deploy players. 꽁머니지급
If the PSG physical department determines that there is no problem with Lee Kang-in’s physical condition, it is likely to return to the entry in the match against the French League and Lille on the 11th, and put him in the match against Real Sociedad in the round of 16 of the UEFA Champions League (UCL) on the 15th.
Lee Kang-in’s friend Takefusa Kubo, who plays for Sociedad, once said, “I think I will meet Kang-in in Paris” when Japan was eliminated from the Asian Cup first. The friend’s reunion is likely to take place in Paris as expected by Kubo.