Son Heung-min (33, Tottenham) returned to the starting lineup ahead of the final with a trophy at stake, aiming to regain his form.

Son Heung-min started in the away match against Aston Villa in the 37th round of the 2024-2025 English Premier League (PL) at Villa Park in Birmingham, England, on the 17th (Korean time), playing 74 minutes but had to witness his team's 0-2 defeat. Tottenham recorded no wins in six consecutive league matches and currently has 38 points (11 wins, 5 draws, 21 losses). Tottenham's 21 losses in the league is the most since the inception of the PL.

In his first starting match in over a month, Son Heung-min focused on regaining match sharpness ahead of the single-elimination final of the UEFA Europa League (UEL) against Manchester United for the 2024-2025 season. Son Heung-min's Tottenham will compete for the championship trophy against Manchester United on the 22nd at Estadio San Mamés in Bilbao, Spain.

Earlier, Ange Postecoglou, the head coach, indicated Son Heung-min's participation in the Villa match. He noted at the pre-match press conference, "Son Heung-min will definitely participate in the Villa match, whether he starts or not. We will see. But Son Heung-min showed a good response in the match a few days ago, and there were no issues with his foot. He trained well."

He added, "It is only right to increase Son Heung-min's playing time. He may start, but if not, he will at least play for half the match." Son Heung-min had played about 32 minutes, excluding stoppage time, in the previous match against Palace, so an increase in playing time was already anticipated.

Son Heung-min had missed seven matches due to injury since the first leg of the Europa League quarterfinals against Frankfurt on the 11th of last month, returning as a substitute in the match against Crystal Palace (0-2 loss) on the 11th. He checked his physical condition by playing a short amount of time. And in the Villa match, as Coach Postecoglou had said, he was included in the starting lineup one more time to check his match readiness.

On that day, aside from Son Heung-min, many rotation members participated in the starting lineup. In attack, Matthias Tell, Mikey Moore, and Wilson Odobert were positioned. In midfield, Pape Sarr and Archie Gray appeared. The back four consisted of Sergio Reguilón, Ben Davies, Kevin Danso, and Jed Spence. The starting goalkeeper was Anthony Kinski.

While the lineup was noteworthy, Coach Postecoglou seemed to be considering testing different tactics as he employed a defensive-first counter-attacking strategy that was different from the usual. During this process, Son Heung-min showed movements close to being a crack on the left flank. He sprinted into the space behind the defense in the 4th minute, penetrating until the left side of the penalty box and attempted a shot.

Son Heung-min, who was moving quickly, took a curling shot inside the box in the 14th minute, and in the 39th minute, he once again broke through the left flank and sent in a sharp cross. However, the overall quality of the counter-attacks dropped, and it did not result in a goal. After a long time back in the starting lineup, Son Heung-min also mediated a clash between both teams in the 5th minute.

However, Tottenham allowed a goal in the 14th minute of the second half from a corner kick situation. Watkins delivered the ball, and Konsa gently pushed it in to score the opening goal. In addition, in the 28th minute of the second half, Asensio drew out the Tottenham defense and passed the ball, leading to a precise shot from Kamara that resulted in a score, extending the lead to 2-0.

As the momentum effectively shifted, Coach Postecoglou substituted Son Heung-min and Reguilón for Rodrigo Bentancur and Dominic Solanke. The match concluded with Tottenham's 0-2 defeat without an additional goal. Although they have given up on the league, Tottenham heads off to the Europa final with a six-match winless streak in the league.

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