East Asia Korea

Korean rising star Lee Kang-in was shown the first red card in his career

Written by Mihyun Chung

Football Tribe Korea

It was not a good day for the Korean rising star Lee Kang-in.

The host took the lead with Diego Costa’s opener. As a part of efforts to strengthen attacks, Valencia put Carlos Soler and Kevin Gameiro, as well as the 19-year-old Korean midfielder with close to ten minutes left.

As Joao Felix had to leave the pitch with an ankle injury, Valencia had an opportunity to even the score especially as the host was down to ten men, having already used all three substitutions. Soon after, indeed, Valencia turned the game to square one as Parejo found the back of the net from a freekick opportunity.

In the 89th minute, however, Lee committed a foul with a bad tackle. The referee showed him a straight red card after the VAR review. It poured cold water on Valencia’s hope to come from behind. Both teams, in the end, had to satisfy with one point each.

In the meantime, Lee was nominated for the Golden Boy award, together with 19 other nominees.