away at defending champions
Dinamo Tbilisi.
SPAIN: At 19, Vinicius Junior is the
youngest scorer in El Clasico in the
21st century, getting Real Madrid’s
opening goal in their 2-0 victory
over Barcelona.
UKRAINE: After 48 league games
without defeat, Shakhtar Donetsk
are beaten 1-0 at Vorskla.
USA: Inter Miami lose 1-0 to Los
Angeles FC on their MLS debut.
Monday March 2
CAF: Mouad Hajji resigns as the
Confederation of African Football’s
secretary-general for “personal
reasons” as he needs a “return
to Morocco as soon as possible”.
UEFA: Puskas Arena in Budapest
will host the 2022 Europa League
Final, with Helsinki and Kazan
staging the UEFA Super Cup in
2022 and 2023 respectively.
Tuesday March 3
GERMANY: Daniel Batz saves
a penalty in normal time and
four more in the shoot-out
as Saarbrucken beat Fortuna
Dusseldorf to become the first-
ever fourth-tier side to reach
the DFB Cup semi-finals.
Wednesday March 4
FRANCE: Kylian Mbappe scores
a hat-trick as Paris Saint-Germain
beat Lyon 5-1 to reach their sixth
consecutive Coupe de France Final.
SPAIN: The first club outside La
Liga to reach the Copa del Rey
semi-finals for eight years, second-
tier Mirandes’ run ends with a 3-1
loss on aggregate to Real Sociedad.
Thursday March 5
FRANCE: Monaco winger Gelson
Martins’ season is over as the
Portuguese international is handed
a six-month ban for pushing referee
Mikael Lesage during his side’s 3-1
defeat at Nimes in February.
GREECE: Defending champions
PAOK are deducted seven points
for breaching ownership rules and,
although still second, now trail
leaders Olympiakos by 14 points.
Xanthi are deducted 12 points. Both
clubs have the right to appeal.
GUINEA: Nine players from second
division side Etoile de Guinee are
killed in a bus crash on their way
to play Karifamoriah in their first
match of the new season. A further
19 people are injured, with 17 of
those in a serious condition.
SPAIN: Athletic Bilbao beat
Granada on away goals and
will play Real Sociedad in the
first all-Basque Copa del ReySpanish steps
Continent’s brightest talent heads to La Liga
ver since Asian players started
heading to Europe in numbers,
Germany’s Bundesliga and the
English Premier League have
been the destinations of choice.
Not many ventured to Spain, and
even fewer have had any success in La Liga.
Former Iran captain Javad Nekounam had a fairly
solid six seasons with Osasuna but the short-lived
experiences of Shunsuke Nakamura at Espanyol
and Shinji Okazaki at Malaga – who both managed
to shine elsewhere in Europe – have been more
representative. But things are starting to change.
In January 2019, China’s biggest star Wu Lei
signed for Espanyol and settled quickly. In January
2020, former South Korea captain Ki Sung-yueng
joined Real Mallorca. And while there is plenty of
interest back in East Asia as to their exploits, there
is even more excitement over two younger talents.
Lee Kang-in at Valencia and Takefusa Kubo, who
is on loan at Real Mallorca from Real Madrid,
are 19 and 18 respectively, and there are high
hopes back home for both. Having already made
their senior international debuts, it is hoped that
they will be mainstays of the South Korea and
Japan national teams respectively for years to come.
Lee first captured the attention of his nation as
a seven-year-old in a team called Shoot Dori in a
popular reality TV show in which a group of children
were trained by famous football figures in Korea and
competed against other teams. Lee blew the
opposition – and the coaches – away.
At the age of 11 he signed for Valencia and
went on to make his debut in a Copa Del Rey
match in 2018. By that time Valencia had
inserted a buyout clause in his contract
of €80million and there was talk in the
Spanish media of naturalising the player
- with the benefit that he would be able
to avoid Korean military service – which
did not go down well back in Seoul and
was swiftly quashed by Lee’s father.
The attacking midfielder made his La
Liga debut in early 2019 but really made
an international name for himself at the
Under-20 World Cup where he scored
two goals and made another four. With
his impressive close control and dribbling
skills – not to mention his passing and
vision – Lee led his country to the Final
and was awarded the Golden Ball as
the tournament’s MVP, following in the
footsteps of Diego Maradona, Lionel
Messi and Paul Pogba.
Having just turned 19 there is plenty
of time on Lee’s side and the next step is to
establish himself as a regular starter at Valencia
as the majority of his appearances this season
have been from the bench.
Kubo has also been making waves. Just three
months younger than Lee, he also went to Spain
in 2011, joining Barcelona and working his way
up through the youth ranks. But, when the
Catalan powerhouse were found to have violated
FIFA’s international transfer policy for under-18
players, Kubo returned to Japan and made his J.
League debut for FC Tokyo while still only 15.
Like other East Asian players who had grown
up in Europe, Kubo played with more freedom
and individuality than his domestic-based
contemporaries, was full of confidence and less
afraid to make mistakes. And, given his tender
age, people were soon taking notice.
In June 2019 he made his international debut
against El Salvador just five days after his 18th
birthday and it was expected that a return
to Barcelona was imminent.
Instead, Real Madrid nipped in and signed a
player they called “one of the most promising
young players in the world...with excellent
technique and great vision for the game”.
Loaned out to Mallorca, Spanish fans have
been treated to some of his special talents this
season – such as a goal against Villarreal in
November that showcased his ability to find space
around the area and shoot from distance. He has
already demonstrated that he can handle life in^
La Liga and the addition of Ki Sung-yueng in a
deeper role should see the youngster get plenty
of advice from an old Asian hand.
If Lee and Kubo continue to improve they could
be mainstays of South Korea and Japan for years
to come – and may even become the first Asian
stars to really shine in Spain since Paulino Alcantara
scored for fun at Barcelona a century ago.WORLD SERVICE
“One of the most promising
young players in the world”
Real Madrid on signing Takefusa Kubo in 2019E
Return...Takefusa Kubo in action against his former club Barcelona