‘Iron pillar’ Kim Min-jae (27, SSC Napoli) played an iron wall and led the victory against ‘Italian strongman’ Juventus.
Napoli defeated Juventus 5-1 in the 18th round of Italian Serie A in the 2022-23 season held at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium in Naples on the 14th (Korean time). After two victories in a row, Napoli took the lead with 15 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss (47 points). The gap between 2nd place AC Milan (37 points) and 3rd place Juventus (37 points) widened to 10 points.
Min-jae Kim, who had previously been substituted out after playing only 45 minutes in the first half against Sampdoria on the 9th to prevent injury, dispelled concerns about injury by playing full-time that day. Against Juventus, a prestigious team in the league, Kim Min-jae recorded a pass success rate of 93% (69 successful out of 74), along with 5 tackles and 5 kicks each.
In particular, he blocked Juventus striker Angel Di María, who was the main player in Argentina’s World Cup victory in Qatar. In the 7th minute of the first half, Kim Min-jae stretched out his legs and 메이저사이트 only won the ball from Di Maria. In the 31st minute of the first half, he quickly predicted and moved forward and cut off the pass.
In the 42nd minute of the first half, as Di Maria broke through, the ball passed between Kim Min-jae’s crotch. Di Maria, who received Arcadius Milik’s pass, scored a 1-2 recovery goal with a left-footed shot. However, the ball was refracted and Kim Min-jae had no choice. In the 35th minute of the second half, Juventus Adrien Rabiot tried to hit and run from the right flank, but Kim Min-jae blocked it.
With Kim Min-jae firmly guarding the back door, Victor Osimen and Hvica Kvarachhelia jointly scored three goals to lead the Napoli attack. In the 14th minute of the first half, when Kvarachhelia’s scissor kick hit the goalkeeper and flowed, Osimen pushed it with a header. After Di Maria’s left-footed mid-range shot hit the crossbar in the 20th minute of the first half, Kvarachhelia, who received a pass from Osimen in the 39th minute of the first half, made it 2-0 with a right-footed inside shot.
In the 10th minute of the second half, Napoli scored an additional goal with a right-footed turning shot from Kvarachhelia’s corner kick, making it 3-1. Kim Min-jae and Rahmani exchanged a Korean-style ‘K-hand heart’ in which the thumb and index finger were crossed.
In the 20th minute of the second half, Kvarachhelia’s cross was headed by Osimen. Osimen ran as the top scorer with his 12th goal in the league. Napoli won 5-1 with Elif Elmas’ key goal in the 27th minute of the second half. Napoli scored 5 goals against Juventus, who had not conceded in 8 matches.
Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti said after the match, “Kim Min-jae and Rahmani are not afraid to leave 30 to 40 meters behind them. Even if I lose the ball, I try to get it back by pressing the opponent.”
Whoscored.com, a statistics company, gave Kim Min-jae a rating of 7.7. It is the 4th highest rating in the team after Kvarachhelia (9.8 points) and Osimen (9.4 points), who scored 3 goals, and Rahmani (7.8 points), Kim Min-jae’s defensive partner.