Kangin Lee Makes First La Liga Start... Active for 67 Minutes but Fails to Register an Attacking Point

Atletico Draws 2-2 with Villarreal

Kang-in Lee (25) made his first start in Spain’s top division, La Liga, for Atletico Madrid since transferring to the club, but was unable to record a goal or assist. Despite being reduced to ten men, Atletico managed to score a dramatic equalizer in the closing minutes and secured a draw against Villarreal.

On the 24th (Korean time), Atletico Madrid drew 2-2 with Villarreal in their home match of the second round of the 2026-2027 La Liga season at the Ryad Air Metropolitano in Madrid, Spain.

After coming off the bench to score the winning goal in the opening match against Malaga on the 20th and being named the Most Valuable Player (MVP), Kang-in Lee started up front as part of a two-man strike partnership alongside Ademola Lookman. Lee took a team-high six shots and was actively involved in the attack until he was substituted in the 67th minute.

Reuters Yonhap News

Less than a minute into the match, Lee received the ball on the right side of the penalty area and immediately fired a shot, but it went well wide of the target.

In the 15th minute, he delivered a sharp penetrating pass to Giuliano Simeone inside the box; Simeone turned and got off a shot, but it was deflected off a defender.

In the 34th minute, Lee broke into the penalty area, received a pass, and attempted a left-footed shot, but again missed the target. In first-half stoppage time, he collected the ball outside the left penalty area, advanced toward the edge of the arc, and fired a right-footed shot, but it struck a defender and went out for a corner.

The first half ended 0-0.

In the 53rd minute, Lee again received the ball on the right, drove toward the arc, and fired a left-footed shot, but it was deflected by a defender.

Atletico took the lead in the 59th minute through Marc Pubill. Pubill curled a left-footed shot from just outside the penalty arc into the corner of the Villarreal goal.

However, in the 66th minute, Atletico conceded an equalizer from the penalty spot. Moments after conceding the goal, Kang-in Lee was substituted for Pablo Barrios.

Atletico fell behind 2-1 in the 78th minute after conceding another penalty. Robin Le Normand fouled George Mikautadze inside the box, giving away the penalty and receiving a red card. Atletico were forced to play with a numerical disadvantage.

However, Atletico did not give up. In the 85th minute, Simeone received an incisive through ball from Alex Baena and scored with a right-footed shot to level the match at 2-2.

Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak preserved the draw with a crucial one-on-one save against Tajon Buchanan in the 88th minute.

Football statistics website WhoScored.com gave Kang-in Lee a decent rating of 6.83. Simeone, who set up the opening goal and scored the dramatic late equalizer for Atletico, received the highest rating of 7.72.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.