Lee Kang-in makes it two for two as PSG continue dominant start

Football

Lee Kang-in makes it two for two as PSG continue dominant start

Published: 25 Aug. 2024, 11:53

JIM BULLEY
jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr

Paris Saint-Germain's Lee Kang-in controls the ball during a Ligue 1 match against Montpellier at Parc des Princes in Paris on Friday. [AFP/YONHAP]

Lee Kang-in picked up his second goal of the season on Friday as Paris Saint-Germain romped to a big 6-0 win over Montpelier.

Once again showing little sign that the departure of Kylian Mbappe had an impact on the Ligue 1 leaders, PSG pushed their season tally to 10 goals in two games with their home stand at Parc des Princes in Paris.

Lee started Friday’s game on the bench, coming on in the 62nd minute with PSG already up 5-0. He added No. 6 in the 82nd minute with a tidy finish from the edge of the box.

Bradley Barcola opened the scoring in the fourth minute, adding another in the 53rd for a double. Marco Asensio scored in the 24th minute, Achraf Hakimi in the 58th and Warren Zaire-Emery moments later in the 60th.

The win makes PSG undefeated in August Ligue 1 fixtures since 2019 and ends a Ligue 1 road victory run for Montpelier that had run since February.

With two games played, PSG sit comfortably in first place on the table, tied on points with Lille OSC and Monaco, but with a huge +9 goal difference.

There’s likely to be some distance put between at least two of those three teams next week, when LOSC host PSG at Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille.

Friday’s win came on the back of a big 4-1 win over Le Havre in the season opener a week earlier. Lee, now in his second season with the French club, opened the scoring in that one in only the third minute.

PSG, who have gone from the club of Mbappe, Neymar and Lionel Messi to the club of none of the above in the space of two years, have got a lot to prove this season. Having parted ways with the biggest names from an almost laughably star-studded squad, manager Luis Enrique is now working with a more balanced squad rather than a Galácticos episode II.

Lee, who finished the 2023-24 season with five goals and five assists across all competitions, is at the center of that squad.

PSG have eight days of rest now before they take on LOSC on Sept. 1. They have a few more weeks to focus solely on league action before the newly-revamped 2024-25 UEFA Champions League kicks off with the first league phase matches in mid-September.

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