Lee Kang-in Paris Saint-Germain is set to play against FC Barcelona.
PSG will face Barcelona in the first leg of the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League quarterfinals kick-off at 4 a.m. on the 11th.
PSG, which advanced to the round of 16 as the second-ranked team in its group after Dortmund, beat Real Sociedad of Spain, and advanced to the quarterfinals, will face a big challenge. Barcelona is the second-ranked team after Real Madrid, the leader in the 2023-24 Spanish Primera Liga, and is one of the strongest candidates for the championship.
Despite the difficulties, PSG is still dreaming of becoming a big ear. "Our team is in a really good mood. We have a strong will to beat Barcelona," current PSG coach Luis Enrique said ahead of the first leg of the quarterfinal match in 2015.
PSG failed to reach the final after losing to Bayern Munich 0-1 in the Champions League final of the 2019-20 season. Kylian Mbappera had one top striker, but only made it to the semifinals once and the second round twice in the next three seasons.
Local media are predicting that Lee Kang-in will play as a key player along with Mbappe. After apologizing to "captain" Son Heung-min of the Korean national soccer team, Lee Kang-in has regained his normal condition.
In the match against Montpellier in the 26th round of the League 1 on April 18, he scored his fourth goal of the season by curling his left foot in the eighth minute of the second half, a 3-2 lead. The goal was named "PSG Goal of the Month" and was nominated for the goal of the month by the League 1 Secretariat.
His performance in the Champions League is also good. Lee has one goal and one assist at the Champions League this season. He assisted Mbappe in the final goal with a beautiful pass against Real Sociedad on June 6.
Lee Kang-in, who has a very good chemistry with Mbappe, is expected to build a front-line three-top with Mbappe-Usman Dembele. There is also a prospect that he will be deployed in the midfield, not the side, to start the game. There is only a slight difference in the expectation of the location, but it is making the starting player a fact.
He has also saved his physical strength. At a home game in the 28th round of the French professional soccer league on Tuesday, Enrique also excluded Lee Kang-in and Mbappe Dembele from the starting list and arranged his physical strength.
Meanwhile, the extremist terrorist group Islamic State IS threatened to attack major European stadiums where the quarterfinals of the UEFA Champions League were held, putting the countries on alert.
According to AFP and other sources on the 9th, IS released a poster targeting the quarterfinals of the Champions League through its own propaganda media on the previous day and released a threatening message. On the poster, a man in black clothes and a masked body is standing with a gun.
UEFA said in a statement, "We are aware of the terrorist threat and are in close contact with the authorities at each stadium," adding, "All matches will be held as scheduled with appropriate security measures in place."