Since he was in elementary school, under the influence of the children, Li Liang has known the three words "Koreanphobia" - whenever the national team encounters South Korea in the game, it is always more than lucky.

Before graduating from university, in the 2010 East Asian semifinals, the national team also coached by Gao Bohong defeated South Korea 3:0, ending the "exaggerated" record of 32 years of unbeaten South Korea in international A-level competitions.

However, in major official competitions such as the World Preliminary Tournament and the Asian Cup, this embarrassing record continues.

After returning from Lille, Latuby was at full strength as he prepared for the opening match of Group E of the Champions League group stage in London in midweek.

Li Liang's preparation began after the national team's 2-3 loss to South Korea on September 1.

He is well aware that the away game against Tottenham is nothing more than an ordinary game for Monaco.

If there's anything special, it's Monaco's first game since returning to Champions League action after a year and a half.

However, this game is very special for Li Liang, because there is a man in the Tottenham team who he does not want to lose to him anyway - South Korea's important hero in the victory over China, Tottenham's main left winger Son Heung-min.

Sun Xingmin's name, he has long been like thunder.

The South Korean striker, who is known as "the best player in Asia", was born in 1992 and is two years younger than Li Liang.

In 2007, at the age of 15, Son Heung-min entered the youth academy of FC Seoul in South Korea.

The following year, Son Heung-min went to Germany for football training through a joint project between the Korean and German Football Confederations, where he joined Hamburg and has since been training in Hamburg's youth system.

On 1 July 2010, Son Heung-min signed his first professional contract with Hamburg.

In his three seasons at Hamburg, the young South Korean scored 20 goals and provided three assists in 73 games and began to make his mark in German football.

On June 14, 2013, Son Xingmin officially transferred to Bayer Leverkusen with a record transfer value of 10 million euros for Hamburg clubs, and the two sides signed a five-year contract.

He made steady progress in his two seasons at Bayer Leverkusen, playing 87 competitive games for the club, scoring 29 goals and providing 11 assists.

In the 2014-15 season, Son Heung-min played eight Champions League games for Bayer Leverkusen, scoring three goals and one assist.

His outstanding performance in the Bundesliga has attracted the attention of many giants. On August 28, 2015, Son Heung-min transferred to Tottenham Hotspur Hotspur in the English Premier League for 30 million euros, breaking the record for the transfer value of Asian players set by former Japanese star Hidetoshi Nakata when he joined Parma.

Last season, Son made 28 league appearances for Tottenham, scoring four goals and providing one assist; 4 appearances in the FA Cup, 1 goal and 1 assist; 1 cap in the League Cup; In seven appearances in the Europa League, he scored three goals and provided three assists. With his consistent play on the offensive end, he became the team's main starter.

In addition to these dazzling statistics about Sun Xingmin, there are also several news articles on domestic websites that have also attracted Li Liang's attention.

Before the match against the Chinese team, Sun Xingmin said in an interview with the media: "I heard that they have a long training time to prepare for the game, but we can run in in only three days and we will definitely win." ”

Netizens reacted strongly to this report, and everyone left messages hoping that the Chinese team could fight for breath and slap these pretending Koreans in the face of the away game.

Li Liang was also very angry after watching it, and he also hoped that Zhou Zhi and the others could defeat their opponents in Seoul, but the ending made him as depressed as all the fans.

After the game, Li Liang saw the translated post-game comments of Korean netizens on the Internet, and the most liked ones were the following:

"I couldn't be happy about the victory at all, and the two goals conceded in the end were embarrassing. A game that gave the Chinese team a dream and hope of the third-rate level of Asian football, alas, ......"

"Why did the Korean team win, but we had the same sense of humiliation as if we lost the game......"

"South Korea is too underweight and physically weak to lead to 2 goals back, while the Chinese team is completely the style of play in the 60s of the last century!"

"The Chinese team should slowly build the Great Wall of football, there is still a long way to go to become a football power."

……

Li Liang saw the report of Son Heung-min's post-match interview on Tencent Sports again, and this time the South Korean striker's speech was even harsher.

Son said: "It's very difficult to attack if the opponent is defending with all their might, and it's hard to create space to attack, so it requires the players to handle the ball calmly, and although there were some mistakes, I was quite satisfied when the score became 3-0.

Although people say that the Chinese team has improved, I don't see the strength of the Chinese team, and I want to show the strength of Korean football in front of Chinese fans. ”

In addition, he was quite dissatisfied with the rough foot movements of the Chinese players: "In the game, the opponent often kicks fiercely, and it is indeed a bit unprofessional to use Shaolin legs on me. ”

After watching Li Liang, he was furious and vowed to compete with Son Xingmin in the game against Tottenham.

But after calming down, Li Liang still felt the gap between himself and the South Koreans who were in hot shape.

Son Heung-min has been famous for a long time and has become the undisputed main force of the Tottenham team, and he is also the absolute "thigh" of the traditional Korean team in Asia.

And he has just played in Monaco, away against Tottenham, and it is unknown whether he will be able to play.

There is still no time to go before the national team.

Li Liang knows that in the past almost one year, he has gone through the football road that others can walk for at least 10 years, and it is really a miracle to be able to play to this extent.

Eager to challenge Son Heung-min, Li Liang worked very hard in training, knowing that only by showing his best form could he impress his coach.

The day after the match against Lille, Caldeira revealed his starting line-up for London in the tactical class, and this time Monaco lined up a 4231 formation.

Subaic returned to the first-choice goalkeeper after injury, while Edouard Mendy continued to use the same combination as Lille at the back, with Fabinho and Tiemoue Bakayoko still playing as a back two.

In attack, veteran Jose Moutinho played as a central midfielder, Dillard on the right, Silva on the left, and Falcao finally returned to the starting centre-forward position.

Li Liang was on the bench along with Germain, Traore, the scorer of the Lille goal, and De Sanctis.

……

The team newspaper's reporter Biel Ghazi learned about the team's squad for the first time, and he didn't want to say it directly, but he contacted Mou Zhaoge and asked them to watch the game in London together.

In the afternoon, Ghazi and a film crew arrived in Latuby, where they had made an appointment in advance for interviews and an interview programme aimed at filming a Champions League promotion column for UEFA.

After the training, Li Liang, who had just taken a shower, was called back to the training ground by the club's press officer, and he was named and interviewed.

To Li Liang's surprise, in addition to being asked some usual questions, Ghazi suddenly asked in front of the camera: "Lee, in the midweek game in London, your opponent also has a great Asian player in the squad - Son from South Korea, is there anything you want to say to him?" ”