Heung-Min Son is congratulated by his teammates following scoring his team’s fifth goal in the final 38th round of the EPL season in 2021-22 at Carrow Road, England on the 23rd. Archyde.com Yonhap News
Son Heung-min (30, Tottenham) scored a multi-goal in the last game of the league and became the first Asian to become the top scorer in the English Premier League (EPL).
Son Heung-min started in the EPL final round 38 away game of the 2021-22 season held at Carrow Road in England on the 23rd (Korean time) and scored an additional goal with the help of Lucas Mora in the 25th minute of the second half, leading 3-0. Then, in the 30th minute of the second half, he shook the net once more with a right footed kick from the left of the penalty tee, ‘Heung-Min Son John’, making it 5-0.
Heung-Min Son, who increased his scoring for the season to 23 goals, finished the league with Mohammed Salah (Liverpool) jointly leading the scoring. Salah suffered a groin injury and started the final match between Liverpool and Wolverhampton from the bench, but came on as a substitute in the 13th minute of the second half. At the same time, Son Heung-min might not score until he scored the 23rd goal, so he seemed to miss the top scorer, but in the 39th minute of the second half, he succeeded in scoring and became the top scorer together with Son Heung-min.
Son Heung-min is the first Asian player to win the top scorer in the EPL. Even if the scope is expanded to the five major leagues such as England, Spain, Germany, Italy and France, there is no Asian scorer. Iran’s Alireza Jahanbaksi (Feyenoord) scored 21 goals in the Eredivisie in the Netherlands in the 2017-18 season and became the top scorer, but the Dutch league is not classified as a big league.
Tottenham Hotspur defeated Norwich City 5-0. It was a one-sided game with 10 shots in the first half alone. Tottenham’s players, who started the second half 2-0, helped Son Heung-min score a goal to become the top scorer. Kulusevsky also missed an opportunity while waiting for Son Heung-min in a situation where he might score directly. When Son Heung-min scored a multi-goal and took the lead in scoring, everyone was happy to lift him together.
With this victory, Tottenham finished 4th in the league (71 points) and secured a ticket to the next season’s UEFA Champions League (UCL). Tottenham will play in the UCL for the first time in three seasons since the 2018-19 season.
Dongsoon Choi reporter dosool@hankookilbo.com
