02/25: Midweek Roundup + Son & Leverkusen takes round 1 over Atletico

Son Heung-Min and Bayer Leverkusen will be pleased to have claimed a superb win over opponents Atletico Madrid today at the Bay Arena. Let’s get to the roundup.

Statistics show that Atletico only completed 58% of their passes, which is the lowest percentage in a Champions League game this season. They have also conceded their first goal of the CL season. Bayer managed to keep 66% of possession throughout the entire match. Aggregate score 1-0 via a Calhanoglu goal in the 57′. Second leg will take place in March 17.

Interesting fact from fellow Tavern writer Steve Han: SHM’s pass completion was 93.3% against Atletico compared to his usual 76.3% in the Bundesliga. Definitely to look more forward to.

Roger Schmidt on his win: ” We deserved to win. You could see from the first minute that we wanted to make an impression in the Champions League, to put ourselves in a good position to get through and I think we did that.”

Even though Wigan lost, Kim Bo-Kyung has been a bright spot for the Lactics. He won MotM vs Charlton during the weekend.  Now this from Tuesday’s 0-1 defeat to Cardiff
(I grabbed this + links from skimmilk’s post in BSK).
But it wasn’t a siege defence needed, even if Kim Bo-Kyung’s display was a one-man creative question as to quite why Cardiff let him go.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/…ports/wiagn-athletic-0-1-cardiff-city-8714501

Mackay bemoaned Cardiff scoring with their only obvious chance and hailed the “immense” performance of Kim Bo-Kyung, recently released by the Bluebirds.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/troubled-malky-mackay-admits-sense-8714588 

Tavern owner interrupting, here’s Asian Champions League group game matchday 1 results:

Jeonbuk Motors 0 : 0 Kashiwa Reysol   [Group E ]

Burinam United 2 : 1 Seongnam FC   [Group F]

Wednesday February 25

Suwon Bluewings 2 : 1 Urawa Reds    [Group G] 

Guangzhou Evergrande 1 : 0 FC Seoul    [Group H]

Good come from behind victory for Suwon, however K-League teams combined for only 4 points thus far. We’ll update this ACL section soon with video highlights…

 And other news…

* According to an inside source, the UAE have won the hosting rights for the next AFC Asian Cup in 2019.

* Apparently, the Egypt FA tried to lure Stielike away from Korea to coach the Egypt National Team insead. Sketchy. Thanks to Jae Chee for this news.

About Jeremy Paek 33 Articles
Korean footy fan/lover of life based in Los Angeles.

8 Comments

    • I agree. He had a high passing % because he only played simple short and safe passes. Son didn’t have a big impact on the game.

      I was surprised how poorly Atletico played against Leverkusen. Is this really the same team that beat Real Madrid 4-0!? I thought they played too defensive and should have pressed more often.

    • Thanks for this actually – I’m in the process of creating a documentary about my family – what happened during Japanese occupation and the Russian occupation on into the Korean War, escaping North Korea during one of MacArthur’s retreats (some of whom are unfortunately still there), and how my immediate family eventually wound up in the US.

      Colonialism has been and continues to be a great source of problems in our world. One day, we will all be free.

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