Heung-min Son: Tottenham star asks South Korea fans to forgive Lee Kang-in after Asian Cup bust-up | OneFootball

Heung-min Son: Tottenham star asks South Korea fans to forgive Lee Kang-in after Asian Cup bust-up | OneFootball

Icon: Evening Standard

Evening Standard

·21 February 2024

Heung-min Son: Tottenham star asks South Korea fans to forgive Lee Kang-in after Asian Cup bust-up

Article image:Heung-min Son: Tottenham star asks South Korea fans to forgive Lee Kang-in after Asian Cup bust-up
Article image:Heung-min Son: Tottenham star asks South Korea fans to forgive Lee Kang-in after Asian Cup bust-up

Heung-min Son has asked South Korea supporters forgive teammate Lee Kang-in after an argument between the pair at the Asian Cup.

The Tottenham captain dislocated his finger after a bust-up with the Paris Saint-Germain forward over a game of table tennis.


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Son took issue with some of the younger members of the squad playing table tennis at dinner time ahead of their shock defeat to Jordan at the semi-final stage.

The index and middle fingers on his right hand were strapped when he returned to club duty as Spurs claimed a dramatic late win over Brighton thanks to Brennan Johnson’s winner earlier this month.

A Korean FA official told the Yonhap News Agency: "It happened when some young players went up to play table tennis, and Heung-min Son and other older players took issue with it. The players exchanged a few words and Son hurt his finger in the process."

PSG’s Lee has since come in for heavy criticism in South Korea.

"Kang-in has done sincere soul-searching about his actions and offered a sincere apology to all the players on the national team, including myself," Son posted on Instagram on Wednesday.

"To prevent Kang-in from doing such a wrong behaviour again, all of our players, as seniors of the national team, will take special care from his side so that he can grow into a better person and player.

"Since that incident, Kang-in is going through a very difficult time. Please forgive him just once more with a generous heart."

In a separate post on the same social media platform, Lee confirmed he had traveled to London to apologise to Son in person.

"That day, I did something I should never have done at dinner. Looking back again, it was something I should never have done. I deeply regret it ...," Lee posted.

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