Kim Min-jae played 75 minutes hard before he was replaced by an injury. Bayern Munich beat Wolfsburg for the first time in six games.
South Korean national soccer team defender Kim Min-jae led the team to a scoreless victory as a starter for the first time in a long time. Munich won 2-0 against Wolfsburg in the 33rd round of the 2023-24 German professional football Bundesliga at Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, on the 13th (Korea time) and rose back to second place in the league.
Kim Min-jae will start in the final home game this season. He worked with Upamecano and played for 75 minutes until he was replaced in the 30th minute of the second half.
However, Kim Min-jae left injury concerns. In the 27th minute of the second half, Upamecano made a pass miss. He then rushed to Jonas Bean, who was trying to rush into the penalty box after receiving a forward pass, and fell while competing, showing his ankle being crushed. Later, when Kim Min-jae complained of ankle pain, he replaced The Mathias the Licht on the bench.
After a long time since the end of the game, it was well received by local media, German media, and coach Thomas Tuchel Munich.
German media 'Bild' gave Kim Min-jae three points, the second highest in the team. Robrozronarek, Leon Goretzka, who scored the first goal and the decisive goal, respectively, and Alfonso Davis, who played in the side, received two points higher than that.
Another German media outlet, "TZ," which criticized Kim Min-jae every day, also scored three points like Bild, saying, "It was a very focused performance that allowed me to have confidence," adding, "However, I had to leave the stadium due to an injury after competing with the opponent."
Football statistics firm Foot Mob gave Kim Min-jae a 7.3 rating. It was lower than Goretzka (8.2), who received the highest score, but was also in the top of both teams. Kim Min-jae recorded three cleanups, one tackle, and a 100% victory rate for ball contests.
Above all, he attempted 86 passes and succeeded 85 times, recording an amazing pass success rate of 99 (long pass success rate of 2 times). He played a confident game by completely overpowering the rear without allowing an opponent's dribble once and giving up fouls.
In particular, Kim Min-jae also kept the rear firmly without too much forward pressure, as if conscious of recent criticism. He relatively refrained from long-term interpersonal pressure, took charge of the passing stem from the back, and tried to manage the game stably. In the meantime, he showed a clean defensive performance and showed perfect performance for the first time in a while.
Munich also decorated the game with a complete victory in a perfect flow for the first time in a while.
Munich scored the first goal less than five minutes after kick-off. In the fourth minute of the first half, Davis poked the pass as he narrowed down from the side to the middle. Zbonarek, a young promising midfielder born in 2005, who was in the penalty arc, caught it. And Zvonarek hit the opposite goal with a sharp right-footed shot, penetrating the bottom and splitting the opponent's net.
Munich, which followed the flow, scored a decisive goal early in the 13th minute of the first half. In the 13th minute of the first half, Brian Zaragoza's cross from the left side outside the penalty box was blocked by the opponent. However, Thomas Muller, who intensively caught the second ball, gave it up, and Goretzka shook the net as he finished it accurately with a right-footed shot.
It is the first time in six matches that Munich has won the official game without allowing a single goal since winning the second leg (1-0 win) of the 2023-24 UEFA Champions League quarterfinals against Arsenal on the 18th of last month. In terms of league games alone, it has been only a month since the match against Cologne (2-0 win) on the 13th of last month, and there has been no victory in four league games.
Munich's competition for second place is expected to continue. Munich (72 points), which had 23 wins, 3 draws, and 7 losses due to the victory, became second, two points ahead of Stuttgart (22 wins, 4 draws, 7 losses, 70 points). If he wins the league's final 34th round away match against Hoffenheim on the 18th, he can keep second place on his own. On the contrary, Munich loses and Stuttgart can fall to third place if it beats Mönchengladbach.
Kim Won-ik, reporter for MK Sports.
