Son Heung-min shooting ‘0’… Expedition to Milan ended ’empty-handed’
Tottenham’s Son Heung-min (center) is blocked by opponents including Brahim Diaz (right) in the first leg of the UEFA Champions League Round of 16 against AC Milan held at San Siro in Milan, Italy on the 15th. Milan | EPA Yonhap News
The red light was turned on for Tottenham’s advance to the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League.
Tottenham lost 0-1 in the away match of the first leg of the round of 16 against AC Milan held at San Siro, Milan, Italy on the 15th, when Brahim Diaz scored the opening goal in the 7th minute of the first half and failed to score. Tottenham can look forward to advancing to the quarterfinals only if they win unconditionally in the second leg at home on the 9th of next month.
It was difficult to predict the match due to the poor flow of both teams in their home leagues recently. Tottenham lost 1-4 in an away game against Leicester City in the English Premier League on the 12th. AC Milan won 1-0 in the previous home game against Torino in Italy’s Serie A, but lost all three previous matches and fell to 5th place in the league.
The two teams were even on data. Tottenham hit 12 shots on the day, ahead of AC Milan, who only had 9. In ball possession, they were ahead of their opponents with 53%, but AC Milan created more threatening scenes. In the 23rd minute of the second half, Charles de Ketelaer’s header slightly missed the right side of the goal, and in the 25th minute of the second half, Malik Tiau’s header went past the left post.
Tottenham had to feel the void of key midfielders Rodrigo Bentancur and Pierre Emil Hoivier, who could not play due to injuries and accumulated warnings, respectively. Among the starting strikers, only Harry Kane hit a shot once. Dejan Klusevski gave possession of the ball to his opponents several times and was replaced by Hischarlisson in the 25th minute of the second half.
Son Heung-min, who started as a left striker, played the ground for 81 minutes before being replaced by Arnaut Danjuma in the 36th minute of the second half. Although he did not record a shot, he showed sharp kicking power by connecting a pass leading to Eric Dyer’s header in the 12th minute of the first half in a free kick situation. He recorded an 83% competition success rate and 2 key passes, and received ratings of 6.7 to 7.2 from soccer statistics media such as Whoscored.com. This is the highest score among strikers.
Meanwhile, Bayern Munich (Germany), a strong championship candidate, defeated Paris Saint-Germain 1-0 on the road, which launched a super-luxurious attack line leading to Lionel Messi-Neymar-Killian Mbafe. Kingsle Komang scored the winning goal in the 8th minute of the second half. PSG was in danger of being eliminated from the round of 16 for three consecutive seasons.