After returning to his club after the A-League, Hwang Hee-chan scored his third goal of the season at home against the Reds.
He hasn’t looked out of place at Liverpool since his time in Austria.
Hwang’s English Premier League side Wolverhampton hosted Liverpool in the fifth round of the 2023/24 Premier League on Saturday at Molineux Stadium in Wolverhampton, England, starting at 8:30 p.m. Hwang finished the first half with a 1-0 lead.
Heading into the match, Wolverhampton had a record of 1-3-3 (3 points) and were in 15th place. Liverpool, on the other hand, sit in third place with three wins and one draw (10 points).
Against this backdrop, Wolverhampton head coach Gary O’Neill brought back Hwang Hee-Chan, the team’s top scorer this season, to lead the charge against Liverpool. O’Neill started Portuguese international Jose Sa in goal, with Nelson Semedo (Portugal), Max Kilman (England), Craig Dawson (England), and Layan Ayew-Nouri (Algeria) in a back four.
In the middle of the park was Jean-Lucerne Belgarde (France), who was making his Premier League debut, alongside João Gomes (Brazil) and Mario Lemina (Gabon). The front three was made up of, from left to right, Pedro Neto (Portugal), Mateus Cunha (Brazil), and Hwang Hee-chan.
Liverpool, meanwhile, had a back four of Andrew Robertson (Scotland), Joe Gomes (England), Joel Matip (Cameroon), and Zael Kwansa (England) in goal with Brazil international Alisson Becker in goal. The center backs are Curtis Jones (England), Alexis McAllister (England), and Dominic Soboszlai (Hungary). Diogo Jota (Portugal), Cody Hakpo (Netherlands), and Mohamed Salah (Egypt) completed the back three.
Japanese midfielder Wataru Endo, who joined Liverpool this summer, started the Wolverhampton game from the bench.
O’Neill’s decision to play a strong counter-attacking game against Liverpool, who were outclassed in terms of objective power, paid off. Hwang Hee-chan gave Wolverhampton the lead in the seventh minute of the first half at 0-0.
After shutting down a Liverpool attack, Wolverhampton’s Netou on the left flank dribbled 60 yards before beating three defenders in quick succession on the left side of the penalty area and crossing low to the other side. Hwang ran onto it and fired a diagonal right-footed shot from the right side of the goal area.
Alisson Becker, the world-class Brazilian goalkeeper in the Liverpool goal, was quick to stop the shot, but the ball had already crossed the line. Hwang celebrated the goal by running in front of the home fans, jumping up and down and pumping his fist in the air.
The goal was Hwang’s third of the season. After just five games, he has already matched his Premier League tally from last season, and has scored in back-to-back games for the first time since joining Wolverhampton in 2021.
Hwang has also started this season from the bench, but his two goals have earned him a place in the starting lineup.
After coming on 18 minutes into the second half of the opening match against Manchester United on August 14 and playing 27 minutes, Hwang came on 10 minutes into the second half against Brighton on August 19, when the Red Devils were trailing 0-4, and scored a header five minutes later to give him his first Premier League goal of the new season.
Hwang built on that goal to make his first start of the season on August 26 at home to Everton, but he was forced off midway through the first half when he felt something wrong with his hamstring (the muscle in the back of his thigh), a nagging injury. However, it turned out not to be a serious injury and he came on as a 15-minute substitute in the second half against Crystal Palace in the fourth round, and again, five minutes after taking the field, he scored a goal to tie the game 1-1 in the 20th minute to revitalize the team.
Hwang then joined Klinsmann’s squad for the two matches against England, coming on as a substitute against Wales on the 8th and starting against Saudi Arabia on the 13th. After the two A matches, O’Neill was able to confirm that there were no major issues with the player’s body.
The youngster scored the opening goal seven minutes into the match to prove his rise to prominence.
With his hat-trick against Burnley on Feb. 2, Hwang is now tied for fourth in Premier League scoring behind senior international Son Heung-min (Tottenham), Elling Holland (Man City – six), Evan Ferguson (Brighton) and Brian Mbemo (Brentford – four).
Prior to the game, Hwang made headlines for his comments about Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp.
Klopp’s name was the first thing that came to mind when he spoke about the need to remain vigilant against bottom-of-the-table Wolverhampton. “If you look at Wolverhampton’s squad, they don’t even have good (threatening) players like Hwang (Hee-Chan) or Sascha Kalajic in the starting lineup,” Klopp said.
Klopp’s statement was a clear indication that he was going to go all out against Wolverhampton, and he singled out Hwang as the reason why. Klopp’s comments proved to be spot-on.
Hwang scored one goal and provided one assist against Liverpool in the 2019/20 UEFA Champions League group stage while playing for Salzburg in Austria.
He also scored a goal against the Reds in the FA Cup last season, and has made a number of impressive appearances against them in the league, including forcing an own goal. This day was no different, as he and Neto shook the Liverpool defense from left to right before exploding for a goal.
Even after Hwang’s goal, Wolverhampton continued to embarrass their opponents by effectively breaking up Liverpool’s forward pressure.
Hwang went close again in the 28th minute when Neto’s cross from the other side of the box was met on the right side of the penalty area by a dribbling Neto, but he was unable to get a shot away from the Liverpool defense.소닉카지노
Wolverhampton had a chance a minute later in the 29th minute when Dawson attempted a header from a no-mark from a corner, but it hit the ground and went wide of the goal. In the 34th minute, Neto broke down the left flank again and crossed to the other side, where Cunha had a lone chance but failed to connect with the goal, shooting with his chest rather than his head.
In the 37th minute, when opposing striker Cho Tae broke down the left flank, Hwang Hee-chan dropped deep near the goal line and blocked Cho’s attempt to break through with his back to the goal, drawing much applause.
In first-half stoppage time, after two shots from opposing ace Salah were blocked by Wolverhampton players, goalkeeper Sa made an instinctive save from a deflected shot from Sobosler to preserve the 1-0 lead at half-time.