'Korean guy' Hwang Hee-chan scores winner as Wolves beat Man City

Football

Published: 01 Oct. 2023, 11:14

'Korean guy' Hwang Hee-chan scores winner as Wolves beat Man City

Wolverhampton Wanderers' Hwang Hee-chan celebrates scoring their second goal against Manchester City at the Molineux in Wolverhampton, England on Saturday. [REUTERS/YONHAP]

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola may have been tempting fate when he referred to Hwang Hee-chan as “the Korean guy” in an interview ahead of Saturday’s clash with Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Just a day later, City drove out of Wolverhampton with their first loss of the season and Hwang — remember that name — was the only Wolves player to make it onto the scoreboard.

Hwang Hee-chan opens scoring in 3-1 loss to Liverpool

Wolves beat City 2-1 at the Molineux in Wolverhampton, benefiting from an early Ruben Dias own goal and some scrappy defense that helped them hold off the worst of the City attacks.

City did finally tie things up in the second half, Julian Alvarez canceling out the earlier mistake in the 58th minute, but less than 10 minutes later Hwang pounced an opportunity to put the home side ahead and end Pep’s unbeaten run.

In the midst of a goalmouth scramble, Hwang picked up a tidy little pass across the box from Matheus Cunha and slotted it past Ederson to lock in the win for Wolves.

The midlands club’s social media team were quick to pounce on the serendipitous opportunity to mock Pep, posting a photo of Hwang with “THE KOREAN GUY” as the caption.

The official Wolverhampton Wanderers Twitter page mocks Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola with a post quoting his ″the Korean guy″ comment after Hwang Hee-chan scored against City on Saturday. [SCREEN CAPTURE]

Former Wolves star Matheus Nunes, who joined City over the summer, was also the subject of mockery, with Wolves fans jumping on the opportunity to jeer every time he touched the ball and chanting “Nunes what’s the score?” as he left the pitch at half time. The Portuguese international did not return, replaced by Oscar Bobb in the second half.

Speaking after the game, Hwang played down his own performance to focus on the team.

“I’m just so happy to win,” Hwang told Wolves TV. “We were determined to win, determined to fight, and we did.

“We trust each other as players and as people and we trust the coaching staff and that’s why we got the result today.”

Wolves manager Gary O’Neill was more effusive on his biggest win this season.

“The lads have stayed committed in every game, have given everything in every game, and the prep went well the last couple of days, the game looked exactly how we expected it to look today, and the lads stuck to the plan and delivered a fantastic performance — which carried some threat as well as being very solid,” he said after the game.

“Beating the best team in the world and possibly the best team ever is a massive result for us, especially off the back of a tough start to the season.”

Wolves will be back in action next weekend as they take on local rivals Aston Villa — fresh off the back of a huge 6-1 win over Brighton this week — at home in Wolverhampton.

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