In this EPA photo, Son Heung-min of Tottenham Hotspur (L) celebrates his goal against Leicester City during the clubs' Premier League match at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Sunday. (EPA)
Tottenham Hotspur's Son Heung-min has scored his way into South Korean football record books.
Son grabbed a brace in Tottenham's 3-1 victory over Leicester City at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Sunday (local time). Son now has a career-high 19 goals for this Premier League season, and he also owns the record for most goals by a South Korean player in a season in a European league.
Former Leverkusen hero Cha Bum-kun had held the mark with 17 goals from the 1985-1986 season.
In all competitions this season -- counting the League Cup, FA Cup and UEFA Europa Conference League -- Son has 20 goals in 41 appearances. His career high is 22 from 51 matches in the 2020-2021 season.
Son was directly involved in all three Tottenham goals in Sunday's victory. He assisted on Harry Kane's opening goal with a corner in the 22nd minute. Then at the hour mark, Son doubled the home side's lead: he received a feed from Dejan Kulusevski near the penalty mark and did a nifty spin move before slotting it home with his left foot.
Son then picked up his second goal in the 79th minute, again set up by Kulusevski. After taking the pass from just outside the box, Son curled in a stunner with his left foot, finding the top left corner to make it 3-0 for Tottenham.
Son broke a tie with Cristiano Ronaldo of Manchester United for second place in the Premier League scoring race, and now trails Mohamed Salah of Liverpool by three goals in the Golden Boot chase.
The victory kept Tottenham's top-four hopes alive with four matches remaining. Through 34 games, Spurs sit in fifth place with 61 points, two behind Arsenal.
Clubs finishing in the top four in the Premier League qualify for the group stage in the UEFA Champions League for the following season.
Son admitted after the match that grabbing the Golden Boot is a "dream" but his team will always come first.
"Scoring goals is really good but you can't score alone. You need the team," he said. "If I get the chances, then I will try to score. The Golden Boot is always a dream but the team is most important. We want to finish (in the position to play) in the Champions League and I want to play in the Champions League." (Yonhap)
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