박주영 롤러 코스터

Park’s time at Celta has been a rollercoaster since day 1. After just one training session he had to leave on international duty to play with Korea, leaving him without being at Vigo until two days before the game against Valencia. He debuted that game on a grey day for him, as he could barely touch the ball more than once.

With one week of full training, he played as a reserve against Getafe, coming out to score Celta’s winner on the first ball he touched as a Celta player in Balaidos. That was the peak of his career in La Liga, and showed what the Korean star can do. He nearly scored a second goal in a brilliant effort, but his shot was a little bit wide. That performance left Celta fans with the desire of more from the Korean star.

Next game was against Granada in Los Carmenes, where Celta paid a very high price for his mistakes. The Korean ace was a starter in that match, but lacked consistency, as in the first half he still seemed lost on the field. He connected a little better in the second half, and was denied twice by Man of the Match Tono. He showed his worst side and best side in that game, and his star started to fade.

To analyse Sevilla’s game we have to consider the fact that most analyst rate player’s performances regarding their statistics, but you have to analyse how Park was moving without the ball. Kim Yong Gap, Park’s mentor, brilliantly pointed the fact that Park’s best ability is his movement without the ball, and Park did a master class on movement without the ball, and maybe that amount of running without the ball gassed him out, as when the Korean star was replaced by Bermejo, he looked like he had nothing else to give to Celta.

After another international break, he came back with a muscle injury that forced him to play through injury against Real Madrid. Despite that fact, he was Celta best man on the field, and until Park was on the pitch, nothing had happen on Celta’s attack. He not only had the best chance of the night, only denied by Golden Ball candidate, Iker Casillas, but he got unmarked twice when his team mates opted to shot instead of assisting the Korean striker.

This roller-coaster that Park has been riding has his next stop against Deportivo, and from that stop he could get a ticket directly to Celta’s heaven. He not only has the opportunity to win the heart of all the Celta fans, but more important, he can get back in shape and become the striker that he was meant to be when he signed for Celta.

Park has not come to Celta to have his participation on the team discussed every single week, and neither has Celta made the effort to bring Park to Vigo to have him sitting on the bench. If Park can keep his performances constant, he can prove he can be the star that Celta needs to take the squad to a higher level, and gain a permanent position on Celta’s starting line-up.