Hwang In-beom makes debut goal in Greek league

South Korean footballer Hwang In-beom of Olympiacos made his debut goal in the professional Greek football league. Hwang scored at the 22nd-minute mark in the first half of the away game against Volos in the 2022-2023 Super League Greece 1 on Sunday (local time). His team won 4-0 against Volos.

Hwang recorded attack points for three consecutive league matches, with one assist each in the two previous games. He took the ball from the opposite team’s player by putting front pressure and dribbled the ball to the left penalty arc before he made a left-footed mid-distance shoot. Volos’ goalkeeper jumped high to block the shoot, but the ball found the net in the right corner.

This was the debut goal in the regular league of Hwang, who moved to Olympiacos in July last year. He recorded four assists in the regular league without any goal until the Sunday game. With a goal he made in the preliminary playoff game against Apollon Limassol in the UEFA Europa League in August last year, his current records are two goals and four assists in this season’s official matches.

Hwang played a role as the starting point of his team’s attacks and led the team to a win. His pass success rate was 92 percent, and he made all five long passes and three tackles. Football statistics website FotMob gave an average score of 8.4 for Hwang, the highest among both teams’ players. “I thank everybody who watches the game late hours and cheers for me. I will try harder going forward,” Hwang said in an Instagram post with a picture of himself in the game.

Hwang Ui-jo, who is on the same team as Hwang In-beom, did not make the roster on Sunday. Since he played in a match against PAOK on October 18 last year as a substitute player, Hwang Ui-jo has not played in the previous 10 league matches.


Bae-Jung Kim wanted@donga.com