22nd and 23rd Goals in Norwich City Match... Shoulder to Shoulder with Salah
Challenging for Titles in Next Season's UCL, League, and FA Cup
Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min became the first Asian to win the top scorer title in the English Premier League (EPL). On the 23rd (Korean time), he started in the final 38th round of the 2021-2022 EPL season against Norwich City at Carrow Road in Norwich, UK, scoring his 22nd and 23rd goals consecutively.
Son Heung-min scored with an assist from Lucas Moura in the 25th minute of the second half when Tottenham was leading 3-0. Then, in the 30th minute of the second half, he added another goal with a curling right-footed shot from the left side of the penalty arc, a high accuracy area. With his season tally reaching 23 goals, Son became joint top scorer alongside Mohamed Salah, who scored in the final match against Wolverhampton. The EPL does not consider other records such as playing time when goal counts are tied and recognizes joint top scorers. This has happened five times up to this season.
Son Heung-min surpassed not only his teammate Harry Kane (17 goals) but also his idol Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United, 18 goals) to stand tall as the 'top scorer.' All 23 goals were field goals. Salah scored five of his 23 goals from penalty kicks. Among the all-time EPL top scorers, the players who scored no penalty goals include Son Heung-min, Dimitar Berbatov (2010-2011, 20 goals), Luis Suarez (2013-2014, 31 goals), and Sadio Mane (2018-2019, 22 goals).
The 23 goals are Son Heung-min's highest number of goals in a single regular league season. He broke his previous record of 17 goals set last season within one season. He also surpassed the record for the most goals scored by a Korean footballer in a European regular league season, set by former national team coach Cha Bum-kun during the 1985-1986 season with Bayer Leverkusen in the German Bundesliga. Son Heung-min is the first Asian player to become top scorer in the five major leagues of England, Spain, Germany, Italy, and France. Although Iran's Alireza Jahanbakhsh (Feyenoord) scored 21 goals to become top scorer in the 2017-2018 Dutch Eredivisie season with AZ Alkmaar, the Dutch league is not classified as a big league.
This season, Son Heung-min scored over 20 goals in a single league season for the first time. Including one goal and one assist in the UEFA Europa Conference League, he recorded 24 goals and 8 assists in 45 matches this season. The 24 goals this season are his personal best for a single season, two more than last season's 22 goals. Son Heung-min showed remarkable skill by scoring from the opening match against Manchester City last August (Tottenham 1-0 win). Although he faced criticism for underperforming in two or three matches mid-season, he quickly shook off the slump and proved his ability. Especially, he led Tottenham's resurgence by scoring twelve goals in the last ten games. He also led the team to a 5-0 victory on this day. Tottenham held off Arsenal (69 points; 22 wins, 3 draws, 13 losses) to maintain 4th place (71 points; 22 wins, 5 draws, 11 losses). They secured a spot in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) group stage for next season, a feat achieved for the first time in three seasons since 2018-2019.
Son Heung-min is now preparing for a new history: winning a championship trophy. Although he is in his 13th professional year, his only major title is the gold medal from the 2018 Jakarta-Palembang Asian Games. He is expected to aim for the top in the UCL, regular league, and the English Football Association (FA) Cup, among others. He can also target various records. Son has scored 93 goals in 232 EPL matches over seven seasons. He needs just seven more goals to surpass 100 career goals. If he plays alongside Kane next season, they can continue to extend their record for the most combined goals in EPL history. The duo has combined for 41 goals, the highest in EPL history, surpassing the Frank Lampard-Didier Drogba duo's 36 goals long ago. Son Heung-min could be recorded as a Tottenham legend. He ranks 10th in the club's all-time scoring list (131 goals in 325 matches), just two goals behind 9th place Alan Gilzean (133 goals in 439 matches).
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
