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Lee Chun-soo Received a Love Call from the Serie-A Division

Lee Chun-soo Received a Love Call from the Serie-A Division

Posted November. 26, 2003 23:10,   

한국어

Lee Chun-soo (22•Real Sociedad), the “straightforward” Korean soccer player who was the first Korean to enter the Spanish Primera Division, has received a “love call” from Italian Serie-A division.

After Lee finished the game against Olympiacos in the final competition (total 32 teams) of the European Champions League held at Kamaras Stadium in the city of Athens, Greece on November 26, he said, “I heard that my agent is contacting the teams of Serie-A division, and they are showing favorable responses.”

Because Lee entered the Primera Division this season, his contract will not mature until 2006. But Lee responded positively by saying, “Because Real Sociedad’s balance sheet is not financially sound, it is highly possible for the team to trade players whose contracts have not matured. If I can get the chance, I would like to gain various experiences by playing in many big leagues such as the Italian league or the English league.” However, he said, “But if the waiver is not larger than the amount that I received when I came to Spain, I will not go there.”

Meanwhile, Lee was put in the game at 31 minutes into the second half of the game with the score tied at 2 to 2, when he replaced Nihat. After the other striker Kovacevic was thrown out of the game at 23 minutes into the second half, Lee led the offense as the top striker but failed to add any more points. The result was a tie at 2 to 2. Real Sociedad sustained its hopes of entering the 16-team competition as the second ranked team of the group with eight points (2 wins, 2 ties, and 1 loss).

Lee Yong-Pyo and Park Ji-sung of PSV Einthoven (Netherlands) played an away game against AS Monaco in the C group from the start, but failed to score any points and the game finished as a tie at 1 to 1. Einthoven kept the third rank position of the group with seven points (2 wins, 1 tie, and 2 losses).



Jong-Koo Yang yjongk@donga.com