The joke Graham Arnold shared with Ange Postecoglou as Australia set to face Son
Eminently likeable, prodigiously skilled and a clutch performer in the big moments, Son Heung-min is football's modern-day movie star.
Unfortunately for the Socceroos, South Korea's smiling assassin - and Ange Postecoglou's captain at Tottenham - stands between them and an Asian Cup semi-final.
'I rang Ange and asked if he can take him back,' Socceroos coach Graham Arnold joked ahead of the clash.
South Korea's captain, who scored in the 2015 Asian Cup final loss to Australia, is smart, explosive, elusive and a brilliant finisher.
He hasn't hit his straps this tournament yet either, which makes the quarter-final at the Al Janoub Stadium in Doha on Friday evening (2.30am, Saturday AEDT) all the more ominous.
'You want to verse the best players in the world and he's probably up there, isn't he?' right-back Nathaniel Atkinson said.
'He scores goals for fun in the Premier League. So it'll be fun to see how he gets in those positions but also for us how we can stop that.'
Skipper Mat Ryan insists the Socceroos will respect Son - but not too much.
After all, this is a team that has faced Argentina's Lionel Messi twice in the past two years and also taken on the likes of France's Kylian Mbappe and England captain Harry Kane.
'He's just a human at the end of the day,' goalkeeper Ryan said.
Veteran defender Aziz Behich has gone toe-to-toe with Son before.
'You have to be careful, it's obviously in the back of your mind as a player when you're on the pitch that these type of world-class players can change a game in a moment,' he said.
'But it's all about us and what we can do as a team.'
There is more to South Korea than Son, of course.
Paris Saint-Germain star Lee Kang-in, Wolves forward Hwang Hee-chan and big striker Cho Gue-sung are all
Read on m.allfootballapp.com
