Lee Kang-in receives a red card 13 min after hitting the ground

South Korean rookie Lee Kang-in of Valencia CF was shown a red card only 13 minutes after hitting the ground.

In the 29th round of La Liga with Real Madrid on Thursday, the 19-year-old was substituted in the 76th minute when his team was losing 2:0. It was Lee’s first game in four months since Feb. 23 against Real Sociedad. Lee was on the bench during the two more games Valencia had until early March and the league was suspended after that due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Lee also stayed on the bench during his team’s first game after La Liga’s shutdown on June 13 against Levante UD.

Returning to the ground after a long time, Lee played aggressively on Thursday as if he was trying to show improvements in tussles and defenses, which have been pointed out as his weaknesses. Lee was shown a red card in the 89th minute when he was trying to steal a ball from world class defender Sergio Ramos. It looked like Lee was kicking Ramos from behind while trying to steal the ball from Ramos, who was controlling the ball with Lee at his back. Tackling from behind is strictly banned in football. Lee was immediately shown a red card and asked to leave the ground. It was his second red card of the season after the first one he received during a match against Atletico Madrid in October last year.

Lee focused on improving his weaknesses by building muscles and developing physical strengths during the shutdown, but failed to deliver impressive performance in his first outing in a while.


Won-Hong Lee bluesky@donga.com