Local hero Son Heung-min delighted his South Korean fans by scoring twice as Tottenham Hotspur beat a K-League select team 6-3 in a wildly entertaining pre-season friendly in Seoul on Wednesday.
The English Premier League Golden Boot winner Son and Harry Kane, who bagged two goals, both appeared just for the second half as manager Antonio Conte gave his full squad a run-out in their first preseason match.
“Despite the fact that many players only started their preseason three days ago, others have had only 10 days, it was a good game,” said Conte.
“The most important thing is to bring on all the players to get fit.”
Both Son and Kane had every move cheered raucously by a 64,000 sellout crowd at Seoul’s World Cup Stadium, even when just warming up on the touchline during the first half.
“Amazing supporters, amazing performance,” said Son after doing a lap of honour after the final whistle.
“It’s the first game of the season, so I am really pleased with it and grateful they came out in such rainy weather. I really, really enjoyed that.”
Defender Eric Dier opened the scoring for Spurs with a thumping left-foot drive in the 29th minute.
Team K-League equalised from Cho Gue-sung’s header to make it 1-1 at half-time before the match exploded in a frenzy of goals after the break.
Spurs started with their new 60 million pound signing from Everton, Richarlison, up front, and after a lively first 45 minutes, the Brazilian was joined by Kane.