Son Heung-min is first Asian footballer to win Premier League Golden Boot

Football

Published: 23 May. 2022, 15:53

Son Heung-min is first Asian footballer to win Premier League Golden Boot

Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min celebrates after scoring a goal during a match against Norwich City at Carrow Road Stadium in Norwich, England on Sunday. [AFP/YONHAP]

Son Heung-min scored two goals on the final day of the 2021-22 season to become the first Asian player ever to win the Premier League's Golden Boot.

Tottenham Hotspur's Son ended the season with 23 goals on Sunday, splitting the award given to the league's top scorer with Liverpool's Mo Salah.

Salah led the top scorer table going into the final game with 22 goals to Son's 21. The Korean added two more in Spurs' 5-0 win over Norwich City, while Salah picked up a late goal in Liverpool's 3-1 win against Wolverhampton Wanderers to split the prize.

Both Son and Salah's goals came at the end of their respective games on Sunday.

Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min holds the Premier League's Golden Boot award after a match against Norwich City at Carrow Road in Norwich, England on Sunday. [AP/YONHAP]

With Tottenham already up 3-0, Son's opportunity came in the 70th minute against Norwich, when the Korean international picked up a round-the-corner flick from Lucas Moura and slotted it home. Five minutes later, Son sent a long shot from outside the box flying past eight defenders and into the top right corner of the goal.

That goal briefly put Son ahead of Salah, but nine minutes later the Egyptian international scored one of his own to tie the two forwards at 23 goals each.

Despite splitting the prize, Son and Salah ended their seasons in very different ways.

Liverpool's Mo Salah holds the Premier League's Playmaker and Golden Boot trophies after a match against Wolverhampton Wanderers at Anfield in Liverpool on Sunday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Salah had scored 20 goals by the middle of March, before his performance sloped off in the last two months of the season. Since then he has only scored three goals: Two in a game on April 19 and one on Sunday.

Son, meanwhile, struck nine times in his last 10 games with six goals coming in the last five games to shoot up the scoring charts and draw level with Salah.

Son also scored all 23 of his goals without a single penalty, far outpacing Salah, who scored five penalties this season. Son scored 12 goals with his left foot and 11 with his right foot.

Son is the first Asian footballer to win a Premier League Golden Boot award, making Korea the 13th country to provide a winner, after Britain, the Netherlands, France, Argentina, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Bulgaria, Gabon, Portugal, Senegal, Uruguay and Trinidad and Tobago.

"It's incredible to have this award," Son said. "I can't believe it. I got really emotional. I dreamed of it as a child. Literally it's my in hands. I can't believe it."

"I wanted to score today. The team helped me a lot at half-time. They wanted to help me, you could see it today."

Both Son and Salah were also included on the eight-player shortlist for Premier League Player of the Season, with the award ultimately going to Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne.

Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol congratulated Son on winning the Golden Boot in a Facebook post on Monday.

"I believe this award is the result of your passion after having devoted yourself and worked endlessly for your team all season," Yoon wrote, adding that the award "is not only a personal honor for you, but a joyous occasion to be celebrated by the entire Asian football community."

Tottenham's 5-0 win secured the club a fourth-place finish and a spot in the Champions League next season.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]