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Lee Kang-in mentioned he was “learning a lot” after upstaging Son Heung-min with two targets for South Korea in a 3-1 win over Bahrain on Monday to launch their Asian Cup marketing campaign. The Paris Saint-Germain attacking midfielder hit a second-half brace in Doha as South Korea made a strong begin of their bid to elevate the title for the primary time since 1960. Tottenham Hotspur talisman Son was responsible of two obvious misses and suffered the indignity of a late yellow card for diving within the Bahrain field.
Instead it was Lee who took centre stage, digging Jurgen Klinsmann’s facet out of hassle after Bahrain cancelled out Hwang In-beom’s opener early within the second half.
Lee has impressed since becoming a member of PSG from Mallorca final summer time and mentioned it was “a privilege” to play along with his star team-mates for membership and nation.
“I’m learning a lot, but it’s not just about football — I’m learning a lot off the field as well,” mentioned the 22-year-old.
“I try to learn as much as possible and develop into a better person and a better football player.”
Lee was a peripheral determine below earlier South Korea coach Paulo Bento however Klinsmann has made him central to his plans since taking on final yr.
The German, a World Cup winner as a participant, mentioned Lee had supplied a contact of sophistication in an in any other case “scrappy” sport that noticed 5 South Korean gamers booked.
“He scored two goals in the opening game and he deserves to be man of the match, he had a very good performance,” mentioned Klinsmann.
“It was a tricky game. That had a lot to do with the referee giving too many yellow cards early.”
Son fluffs strains
Bayern Munich defender Kim Min-jae and Son had been amongst these booked, with the Spurs ahead enduring a irritating time in entrance of objective.
He missed two gilt-edged probabilities within the second half and mentioned the crew “had to do better”.
“I think the most important thing is that we won the game and we move on again because the next game is coming really quick,” he mentioned.
Klinsmann left Wolverhampton Wanderers ahead Hwang Hee-chan out of his match-day squad.
Hwang, who has scored 10 targets within the Premier League up to now this season, has been battling a hip harm.
The Koreans laboured early within the match however Hwang In-beom broke the impasse with simply over 5 minutes of the primary half remaining.
Bahrain got here out for the second half seeking an equaliser and so they obtained one within the 51st minute.
South Korea goalkeeper Kim Seung-gyu parried the ball and Abdullah Al-Hashash was there to slam residence the rebound.
Lee restored South Korea’s lead 5 minutes later, amassing a cross outdoors the field and lashing residence along with his left foot.
He bagged his second within the 69th minute, dancing by means of the Bahrain defence earlier than coolly slotting the ball residence.
“We are very pleased to start with three points in the tournament,” mentioned Klinsmann.
“This is the really important thing, to get three points in game one, and then you look forward to the next game.”
That might be on Saturday in opposition to Jordan.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
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