The last of the big European leagues wrapped up this weekend, while the K League made up a round of games before their mini-summer break. Recap after the jump.
Celta Vigo Survives
For a long while it looked all but certain that Celta Vigo would make an immediate return to the Spanish second division. But on Saturday, everything went right for the Galician club who managed to not only survive, but also plunge regional rivals Deportivo La Coruna into the relegation spots. While Park Chu-Young didn’t play at all in the final stretch of the season, two of his three goals were important for Celta. His goal against Getafe earned Celta all three points, and his goal against Mallorca earned them a draw. Granted this is a ‘what if’ and stretching for some positives from this season, but it’s still worth mentioning.
Basel Wins the Swiss Super League
Basel’s loss to Grasshopper last weekend meant Basel would have to put their title celebrations on hold for a while. But, two wins this past week ensured the season would not end trophy-less. 1-0 wins over Young Boys and St. Gallen were sufficient to keep Grasshopper’s title challenge at bay. Park Joo-Ho was on the bench against Young Boys and played the full 90 against St. Gallen.
K League Classic Round-Up
This weekend was a make-up weekend for 8 K League Classic clubs.
Jeju United vs Pohang Steelers – Pohang re-asserted their early title claims as they pulled a 3-2 win over Jeju in Seogwipo. This was a small test for Pohang, as Jeju is a quality KLC team, and Pohang was missing important midfield players Lee Myeong-Jin and Hwang Ji-Soo who traveled to the Middle East for the upcoming national team match with Lebanon.
Jeonbuk Motors vs Busan IPark – The surprise result of the weekend. Like Pohang, both Jeonbuk and Busan were missing key players. Jeonbuk was without Lee Dong-Gook, Jung In-Hwan, and Lee Seung-Gi, while Busan was without goalkeeper Lee Bum-Young and influential midfielder Park Jong-Woo. Busan has been poor on the road this season, but they roared out to a 4-0 lead, until a second booking for Park Joon-Gang saw them reduced to 10. Kevin Oris scored a late consolation goal for Jeonbuk.
Suwon Samsung vs Gyeongnam FC – The pressure continues to build on Suwon coach Seo Jung-Won as a 0-0 draw with Gyeongnam sees Suwon continues to inch closer to the relegation half of the table. Gyeongnam still doesn’t look like winning anytime soon, but we’ll see if the coaching change helps any.
FC Seoul vs Chunnam Dragons – FC Seoul continued their slow, but steady climb up the table as they recorded a comfortable 3-0 win over Chunnam.
Park Chu Young won’t be taking any credit at all for Celta’s permanence. He is well disliked among the fans and even if he scored a couple of important goals what the fans remember are his glittering misses when Aspas was away. Unfortunately Park will be leaving Celta through the back door.
Apologies for being off-topic.
I’ve just seen Lee Seung Woo taking a photo with Neymar before his presentation.
Don’ discard their playing together in the near future.
Messi, Neymar, Deulofeu, Lee. Barca’s future looks good 🙂
No, and I wasn’t trying to imply that he should necessarily. It was more of a deep-digging look for something, however small, positive to take from his time in Vigo. His loan will end, he’ll quietly leave. He won’t thank the fans, and they won’t thank him. I’m aware of the fans’ and medias’ general negative impression of him.
Assuming Neymar, Lee Seung-Woo, and Deulofeu all meet the expectations placed on them, an attacking quartet of Messi up top, Neymar on the left, Lee Seung-Woo in the hole, and Deulofeu on the right is pretty frightening. Especially when you consider that Messi, at what 25, is the old man of the group.
Indeed, Lee be the first Korean to triumph in Spain
Any chance Park returns to Arsenal? Or, well…better question – any chance that we will not be shipped out, contract terminated, immediately upon his return to London?
I’m going to say his chances of staying at Arsenal: 0 % Best guess at this point, Arsenal will offload him and will spend the good part of the summer in that effort. MLS could be his least attractive option. If Koo Ja-Cheol can put a good word for him – best case scenario would be any team in the Bundesliga.
Not really, neither party wants to continue the relationship. Arsenal see him as useless and Park is very unhappy with how Arsenal treated him. The only way he stays (I think) is if they can’t find a club who will take him.