Night of Korean strikers

Park Chu-young, Son Heung-min score to give their team win

By Jung Min-ho

Two Korean strikers, Celta Vigo’s Park Chu-young and Hamburger SV’s Son Heung-min, each steered their team to victory Sunday (KST) with remarkable goals, leaving lasting impressions on the minds of many European football fans.

Park scored an impressive debut goal only two minutes after leaving the bench to give Celta a 2-1 win against Getafe under the roaring approval of home fans.

Celta took the lead in the 57th minute when midfielder Augusto Fernandez scored the opener but this was short-lived as Abdelaziz Barrada leveled the match only two minutes later. It was Park who determined the outcome when he netted Michael Krohn-Dehli’s left cross after storming into the penalty area from behind in the 66th.

The 27-year-old, who celebrated his daughter’s birth last month, could have scored his second when he grabbed a one-on-one chance with goalkeeper Miguel Angel Moya with four minutes remaining, but his left-footed shot just missed the right post.

The heat of the thrilling game lasted to the very end as Celta manager Paco Herrera was sent off for complaining in injury time, with Getafe defender Alexis Ruano hit with a red card for striking an opponent, but Park wrapped up his second match with a meaningful victory.

Meanwhile in Germany, Son scored the game’s opener with his amazing header in only two minutes and added another one 57 minutes later to seal the 3-2 victory over Borussia Dortmund. With the achievement, the 20-year-old clinched the team’s first win of the season and put an end to the defending champion’s 31-game winning streak.

As soon as the game began, the ball left Rafael van der Vaart’s left foot and curved through the air then hit Son’s head to shake the near post net. Two defenders Mats Hummels and Marcel Schmelzer were running beside him to block the attempt but Son’s diving heading attempt was just unstoppable.

The visiting team stepped up their tempo and succeeded in tying the match with Ivan Perisic’s goal shortly after the second half kicked off. However, midfielder Ivo Ilicevic regained the lead in the 55th minute, followed by Son’s second goal with a fantastic mid-range strike four minutes later. Perisic scored his second a minute later to keep the winning-hopes alive but failed to equalize the score.

The two Korean footballers’ successful goal feast is expected to give them more opportunities and cement their striker position in their respective team’s offense.