PSG Wins 2nd Straight UEFA Champions League Title; Lee Kang-in Earns 2nd Title

By Yoo Jee-ho

BUSAN, May 31 (Yonhap) -- The French champions Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) have won their second straight UEFA Champions League title while their South Korean midfielder Lee Kang-in watched from the bench.

PSG defeated the Premier League winners Arsenal 4-3 on penalties at Puskas Arena in Budapest on Saturday (local time), after the two clubs remained deadlocked at 1-1 following 90 minutes of action and then 30 minutes of extra session.

PSG became the first team to lift consecutive UEFA Champions League trophies since Real Madrid won three straight from 2016 to 2018. The latest victory also gave PSG a double, as they had earlier won the French Ligue 1 title.

Lee, whose role with PSG has diminished this season, was held out of his second straight Champions League final. He did become the first South Korean player to win multiple Champions League titles.

Former Manchester United midfielder Park Ji-sung is the only other South Korean to have won the top European club competition, having done so in 2008. Park also didn't play in the final that year.

Park took the field for the 2009 and 2011 finals for Man United but they lost to FC Barcelona on both occasions.

In the 2019 final, Son Heung-min played for Tottenham Hotspur in a 2-0 loss to Liverpool.

In Saturday's match, Kai Havertz put Arsenal on the board in the sixth minute, and then it wasn't until Ousmane Dembele's penalty in the 65th minute that PSG pulled even, with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia fouled by Cristhian Mosquera in the box.

The rest of the match and then 30 minutes of extra time solved nothing.

In the shootout, Arsenal's second kicker, Eberechi Eze, and PSG's third taker, Nuno Mendes, each missed their chances.

And then with PSG up 4-3, Gabriel missed his spot kick for Arsenal to make PSG the European champions for the second straight year.

Having captured his 12th trophy with PSG, Lee will now join the South Korean national team in their training camp in Utah ahead of the FIFA World Cup.

He will be the last player among 26 to report to camp.

South Korea will play two friendly matches during their U.S. camp, first against Trinidad and Tobago at 7 p.m. Saturday (local time), or 10 a.m. Sunday (South Korean time), and then against El Salvador at 7 p.m. Wednesday (local time), or 10 a.m. Thursday (South Korean time).

South Korea's first World Cup match in Group A will be against Czechia in Guadalajara, Mexico, at 8 p.m. June 11 (local time), or 11 a.m. June 12 (South Korean time).