Kim Min-jae (27, Napoli), the core of the defense of the Korean national soccer team, led the victory by tying Angel Di Maria (Juventus), the main player in Argentina’s World Cup victory, to victory in the Italian league.
Kim Min-jae started the match against Juventus in the 18th round of the ‘2022-2023 Italian Serie A’ held at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium in Naples, Italy on the 14th (Korean time). He played full-time as a central defender, boasting a strong presence and leading a 5-1 victory.
On this day, Kim Min-jae succeeded in all five tackles, and the pass success rate reached 93%. There were also two passes that led to scoring opportunities.
The injury concerns that arose in the previous match against Sampdoria were completely washed away. At that time, Kim Min-jae played only the first half after joining Napoli and was replaced in the second half. Regarding this, Napoli manager Luciano Spalett explained that it was an ‘injury prevention measure’. However, Kim Min-jae showed off his strength in the match against strong Juventus.
In particular, he completely blocked Di Maria, the opponent’s special player. When Di Maria passed, Min-jae Kim ran and 메이저놀이터 intercepted the ball every time.
There was only one mistake. In the 42nd minute of the first half with a 2-0 lead, Di Maria sent a pass through Kim Min-jae’s legs to Arcadius Milik.
However, it had no effect on the game. Napoli scored five goals, including Victor Osimen’s multi-goal, to win the match like fireworks. Osimen ran to the top of the score alone with his 12th goal. Di Maria, who led Argentina to win the World Cup in Qatar along with Lionel Messi (Paris Saint-Germain), reached that point.
With this victory, Napoli sprinted to the top of the league with 47 points (15 wins, 2 draws, 1 loss). Juventus, whose streak of 8 consecutive matches ended, remained tied for second place (37 points) with AC Milan on this day.
Kim Min-jae received a rating of 7.7 on whoscored.com, a soccer statistics website. It is the second highest score among the defense and midfielders of both teams. Amir Rahmani (7.8), who played center back with Kim Min-jae, Victor Osimen (9.4 points), who scored 3 goals, and Hvitza Kvarachhelia (9.8 points) were higher than Kim Min-jae.
Di Maria is a veteran striker who contributed to Argentina’s victory at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Even Di Maria, who went through all the pre-natal battles and even lifted the World Cup trophy, was no match for Kim Min-jae on this day.