Lee Kang-in's growth?

 "I think Lee Kang-in has improved a lot thanks to Javier Aguirre."

Spanish media "Marca" reported on the 21st (Korea Standard Time) that "Luis Enrique praised Javier Aguirre's efforts while talking about Lee Kang-in's growth."

According to media outlets, Luis Enrique, who is leading PSG (Paris Saint-Germain), made an appearance on the Twitch Channel during his A-match break in March and expressed his opinion on the final match of the Copa del Rey in Spain during the 2023-2024 season. Enrique often performed on his own television when he was a Spanish coach in the past. He also performed it during the Qatar World Cup.

This season's Copa del Rey is a continuation of extraordinary events. Athletic Bilbao and RCD Mayorka will face off in the final of the cup competition at Estadio de la Cartuja in Seville, Spain on April 7.

Athletic, which ranked fourth in La Liga this season, advanced to the semifinals after defeating Barcelona 4-2 in the quarterfinals. Afterwards, it crushed Atletico Madrid with a combined score of 4-0 in the first and second legs in the semifinals, successfully advancing to the finals.

Although it has not won since 1984, it is not so surprising that Athletic, who have made the Copa del Rey final a total of 39 times so far and boast 23 career championships, will make it to the final, but Mallorca is different.

Mallorca, currently ranked 14th in the league, advanced to the semifinals by beating Girona, a La Liga sensation who is ranked third this season, 3-2 in the quarterfinals. In the semi-finals, it won against Real Sociedad in a neck-and-neck race leading up to the penalty shootout and secured a ticket to the final.

Mallorca had previously won the Copa del Rey final three times (1990-1991, 1997-1998, 2002-2003), and only the 2002-2003 season when they won against Recreativo de Uelba (now part 3), who was a member of the first division at the time.

Following Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, defending champion Real Madrid was also eliminated from the round of 16, creating a match that no one expected in the Copa del Rey final.

While attention is focused on whether Athletic will win for the first time in 40 years or Mallorca will lift the Copa del Rey trophy for the first time in 21 years, Coach Enrique, who led the past Celta Vigo, Barcelona and Spain teams, expressed his thoughts on the final.

Analyzing the final, Coach Enrique drew attention by mentioning Lee Kang-in, who is currently teaching at PSG.

Lee Kang-in played for Majorca until last season before moving to PSG through the summer transfer window. Enrique, who was explaining about Majorca, praised Majorca coach Javier Aguirre, citing Lee's growth.

"Everyone thought Real Sociedad would make it to the final, not Mallorca, but we saw what happened," Enrique said. "I'm watching Mallorca well, so I know what they're doing. There are very interesting and great coaches in Mallorca."

"Lee Kang-in told me what is great about Aguirre. I think Lee Kang-in has improved a lot thanks to Aguirre," he added.

"Aguire is a coach who taught Lee Kang-in that he needs to be good at offense but also defense," he said. "Since Lee Kang-in has strengthened his defense since he worked with Aguirre in Mallorca, other coaches are benefiting."

Lee Kang-in left Valencia, where he has been since his youth, in 2021, to move to Mallorca, a member of Spain's La Liga. Lee Kang-in's debut season in Mallorca was one goal and three assists in 34 games, but he replaced 18 out of 34 games as he struggled to compete for the starting position.

However, Aguirre, who took office in March 2022, has enlightened Lee Kang-in's potential. In the second year of Majorca, Lee Kang-in had his best year in 2022-23 season as he became a key player in his team and finished the season with six goals and six assists in the league.

Thanks to Lee Kang-in's full-fledged performance, Mallorca, which was ranked 16th in the league in the 2021-22 season, raised its ranking to ninth in the 2022-23 season.

Lee Kang-in, who has emerged as one of the best players in La Liga beyond Majorca, entered the French League 1 last summer after receiving a love call from PSG, one of the best clubs in the world. PSG signed a five-year contract with Lee Kang-in until June 2028 while paying 22 million euros (about 31.3 billion won) for a transfer fee to Majorca.

After moving to PSG, Lee Kang-in succeeded in gaining the confidence of manager Enrique by establishing a position in the team. This season, Lee Kang-in has played 1499 minutes in 23 games in all competitions, scoring four goals and three assists. Recently, he scored a wonderful mid-range goal in the 26th round of the French League 1 in the 2023-24 season, contributing to a 6-2 victory in Montpellier, and both Lee Ju's team and Lee Ju's goal selected by the League 1 secretariat were selected.  토토사이트