Local people say Son Heung-min should be excluded from the Europa League final selection list.
Son Heung-min started in the 37th round of the English Premier League (EPL) of 2024-2025 season against Aston Villa at Villa Park in Birmingham, England on the 17th (Korea Standard Time) and spent 74 minutes on the ground. Son Heung-min, who played as a starter for the first time in a long time, failed to prevent Tottenham's 0-2 defeat.
The defeat hurts, but Tottenham has already had to put everything on the line in the Europa League (UEL), so they gave a large number of key players a break ahead of the final. Only Son Heung-min, who has to improve his condition, started among the main players.
Son Heung-min looked much better than his return match against Crystal Palace. It was Son Heung-min who showed a movement to penetrate behind the defense in the fifth minute of the first half. It was a good start, even though it was caught by the defense because the finishing judgment was disappointing.
Son Heung-min looked confident. After receiving Wilson O'Dober's pass in the 15th minute of the first half, he had a one-on-one opportunity with the defender on the left. At this time, Son Heung-min came close to the penalty box and boldly tried to wrap his right foot around it. It was a good shot just off the post.
Son Heung-min's best scene came in the 40th minute of the first half. In Tottenham's counterattack opportunity, Son Heung-min grabbed the ball from the Tottenham penalty box and started hitting left and running. The Villa defense couldn't keep up with Son Heung-min's pace at all. Unfortunately, however, Son Heung-min's cross and Tottenham's teammates' timing were not right.
Son Heung-min spent more time than expected until the 29th minute of the second half to check the physical strength of the game. After the match, Tottenham manager Enze Postecoglou told the BBC that Son is ready to play in the UEL final. Playing in this match was important to Son, and he feels he is finding his rhythm again."
Postecoglou told a press conference after the game about Son's condition in more detail. He said "Son Heung-min is ready, he can play. He started the game today. I think it was very important for Son Heung-min to play for about 70 to 75 minutes today. There were scenes that opened the space several times, and he seems to be feeling that he is regaining his rhythm himself. In today's game, he showed a few times that he regained his senses"I gave a very positive evaluation.
Postecoglou said Son Heung-min, the captain, was able to return and regain his leadership inside the stadium. "This is important, especially with the recent loss of a few key players," he said. James Maddison is one of the leaders, while Dejan Kulusevski and Lucas Beribal have been among the leaders for the past three weeks. Now, with Son Heung-min returning, at least one more experienced player has increased. I think the average age of our team over the last two or three games was 3-4 years younger than the opposing team. So sometimes you can see that just having one more experienced player can be of great help to the team.", he said, noting that Son Heung-min's return is very effective.
However, there is still a lot of talk about Son Heung-min's start in the UEL final. It is very different from Harry Kane's situation, who suddenly started in the 2019 European Champions League (UCL) final, but it is difficult to say that Son Heung-min, who just returned from injury, is in 100% condition.
Even one of the leading British media, The Athletic, insisted that Son Heung-min should be excluded from the UEL final selection list after the match against Villa. Media reports 'Who should be on Tottenham Hotspur's starting list for the UEL final?He wrote down the expected players for each position.
From the goalkeeper's perspective, Guglielmo Vicario, Pedro Porro, Christian Romero, Mickey van der Penn, Destiny Udogi, Rodrigo Bentancur, Yves Bissouma and Pape Matar Sarr were selected in the midfield.
Brennan Johnson, Dominic Solanke and O'Dober, not Son Heung-min, were on the offensive.
The Athletic started O'Dober, not Son Heung-min, saying 'This was the most difficult decision. Son Heung-min and Kane have been Tottenham's most important players for the past decade.
In a recent interview with Korean media, Son Heung-min said, `The biggest reason he stayed at Tottenham was because he wanted to do something that others would not be able to achieve. That's why I feel like I'm here now. 'You need every piece to complete the puzzle.' said passionately. It would be a great pity if he did not receive the trophy while playing for Tottenham, but he insisted that emotions should not affect the decision and that the starting list should not be affected by the desperation of the player.
The Athletic said, `Son Heung-min was lively in the first half against Villa, who started more than a month after his foot injury, but he was sluggish this season and too often slowed down his attack. Hishalisson started on the left wing in both games against Borda/Glimt, but it is too tempting for Oberna Matistel to attack Manchester United's centre-back at speed. So I chose O'Dober. This is because his dribbling ability will be important in making room for others, beating defenders. 'More so because Madison and Kulusevski were excluded.'
However, the majority of fans were against it. Odobert may be faster than Son Heung-min, but he is a player who can never follow Son in his experience and performance so far. Fans are insisting that Son Heung-min should be the starting player.
If Son Heung-min wins the Europa League, he could be considered a legend that will remain in Tottenham's history, but injury variables continue to be annoying. Meanwhile, Son will become the first Korean player to play both UCL and UEL stages at the same time if he plays this final
This article was translated by Naver AI translator.
