It’s now official: Luis Enrique has won his first major trophy on the bench of Paris Saint-Germain. His team in fact dominated Toulouse on Wednesday evening, during the Champions Trophy, on the lawn of the Parc des Princes. A meeting marked in particular by the tenure of Achraf Hakimi and Lee Kang-in, two important players in the system of the native of Gijon who will be forced to pack up in the coming days. But before that, they offered their teammates one last solid and great individual performance to win this meeting, the first of 2024, which was therefore also synonymous with the first trophy in the Parisian bag this season. But this success against Toulouse also highlighted the almost indispensable status of these two players.
Several doubts were present regarding the composition chosen by Luis Enrique for this first poster of the year. But for this football return after the Christmas holidays, the former coach of La Roja decided to place Lee Kang-in in the trident of the axis alongside Warren Zaire-Emery and Vitinha, while he had used on numerous occasions in a straight piston, a symbol of its precious versatility. From the start of the match, the South Korean international opened the scoring on the magnificent collective combination of PSG (3rd). This signed achievement allowed him to build up his confidence because the Korean showed a lot of good things during the first act. He placed himself in the heart of the game and often looked for play on the wings, quickly and cleanly, with Bradley Barcola.
National duty does not wait!
Very consistent during the match, Lee Kang-in came close to scoring an absolutely sublime second goal, but his returned shot ended up in the gloves of Guillaume Restes (35th): “I am satisfied of course. We had the ambition to win this trophy before the match. I have confidence, I always try to help the team and I work hard for that. I feel good in this team, getting better and better, and I am very happy”, indicated the South Korean international who will fly to Qatar where he will play the Asian Cup of Nations (January 12 to February 10) with his selection. As he begins to gain a lot of weight in Luis Enrique’s rotation and system, there is no doubt that his absence for several weeks should make the Parisians suffer, especially since South Korea is clearly the big favorite in the competition. Named man of the match by the LFP this Wednesday evening against Toulouse, the former Mallorca player touched more than 70 balls for only eight turnovers, also displaying 96% successful passes. He is clearly gaining considerable momentum at Paris Saint-Germain, at a time when Fabian Ruiz is still injured. Without forgetting the poor form of Manuel Ugarte and the operation of the future Brazilian recruit, Gabriel Moscardo.
Established on his usual right wing, Achraf Hakimi did very poorly on his side, including a formidable connection with Ousmane Dembélé in attack. Unfortunately for the Parisians, the former Inter Milan and Borussia Dortmund player will have to join his team for the African Cup of Nations where he will defend the colors of Morocco in Ivory Coast (January 13 – February 11) . The Atlas Lions are among the big teams likely to go all the way: “With the talent he has he can do anything. He has a big competition to play (the CAN), he wanted to go there through the front door. He is a very important player for us. You have to go in front, but everyone has to defend. It shows on the pressing, on the returns”declared the captain, Marquinhos, on the microphone of Prime Video after the meeting. Particularly mobile, we saw it at the front and at the rear, giving off a certain force. His splits with Dembélé and other teammates like Mbappé have often hurt the Toulouse defense. He even almost scored a goal by scoring a superb free kick which crashed into Guillaume Restes’ post (56th). In any case, these two players offered a great gift to the Parc des Princes before going to the national team.
