Lee Chun-soo, the story behind punching "Master" Xabi Alonso in the face: "They criticized me for moving the goalposts; I was plotting revenge after the fight..."

*This content was translated by AI.

Former South Korean national team player Lee Chun-soo (45) revealed an anecdote about getting into a fistfight with Xabi Alonso (45), his former teammate at Real Sociedad in Spain and current Chelsea manager, during training.

On the 1st, Lee Chun-soo reflected on conflicts and physical altercations he experienced early in his European career via his YouTube channel 'Lee Chun-su'.

He explained that tensions had already built up due to differences in communication styles with Western players. Lee Chun-soo said, "I couldn't understand why European players expressed their dissatisfaction. When I took a shot, they would say something, and when they took shots and I showed frustration, they'd ask, 'Why didn't you pass?' This led to accumulated resentment."

The direct physical altercation occurred during training. Lee Chun-soo stated, "Players who didn't get to play in the match were doing recovery training the next day while moving goalposts when a fight broke out. In an already sensitive situation, I pointed out that someone was being careless, and that triggered an explosion." He then described the incident.

The language barrier ultimately led to a fistfight. Lee Chun-soo revealed, "Since we couldn't understand each other's words, we exchanged punches and fought. Someone actually threw a punch at my face, and the coach had to intervene personally."

Cultural differences were also evident in the two men's attitudes immediately after the clash. Lee Chun-soo recalled, "I held onto resentment until the next day, secretly thinking, 'You'll pay for this,' but Alonso seemed to have let it all go, greeting me casually as if nothing had happened."

Ultimately, the incident became a turning point that brought the two players closer. Lee Chun-soo added, "After going through such incidents and fighting, we actually became friends. At the time, senior players like Javier De Pedro stood by my side and helped me a lot."

Meanwhile, Lee Chun-soo leveraged his outstanding performances in the 2002 Korea-Japan World Cup and K League to move to Real Sociedad in July 2003, becoming the first South Korean player to join Spain's La Liga. However, unlike expectations, he struggled to adapt locally. He appeared in a total of 21 official matches: 13 in the regular league, 2 in the Copa del Rey (King's Cup), and 6 in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) during the 2003–2004 season. Aside from one assist recorded in the La Liga opener, he failed to score any goals and was eventually loaned to CD Numancia after just one season.

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*This content was translated by AI.