‘Monster defender’ Kim Min-jae, who had been sluggish recently, led Napoli’s victory with a big success in air defense, such as writing an assist for season 2.
Napoli defeated Lecce 2-1 in the 2022-2023 Italian professional football Serie A round 29 away match held at Stadio Villa del Mare in Lecce, Italy on the 8th (Korean time).
Napoli, which lost 0-4 to AC Milan in the 28th round, took a sharp turn, but they won the victory that day and calmed down.
The match between AC Milan and the European Football Federation (UEFA) Champions League (UCL) quarterfinals, which gave them the pain of a crushing defeat, was approaching 5 days later, so victory was all the more necessary.
After 24 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses, Napoli has accumulated 74 points to lead the league. The difference between second place Lazio (55 points) is 19 points.
Lecce (6 wins, 9 draws, 14 losses, 25 points) is in 16th place.
Above all, Napoli is glad that Kim Min-jae has recovered his game.
On the 28th of last month, after the domestic evaluation match between Korea and Uruguay, Kim Min-jae, who gave excuses for conceding consecutively until the match against AC Milan, announced the return of the ‘iron pillar’ by making a big success in the offense and defense that day.
He complained of mental and physical fatigue in his national team, and showed a lack of concentration in the match against AC Milan, clearing away his growing concerns.
After an A match in March, Kim Min-jae made a remark that seemed to suggest retirement from the national team, but then reversed it and ‘unfollowed’ Son Heung-min (Tottenham)’s SNS for a while, causing controversy, such as raising rumors of discord.
Kim Min-jae, who started as a central defender with Amir Rahmani, posted his second assist of the season with a sharp cross in the 18th minute of the game.
In the free kick situation, Kim Min-jae, who participated in the development of the team’s attack, raised a cross from the right flank, and Giovanni Di Lorenzo headed it in front of the goal, shaking the net first.
Napoli equalized with Federico DiFrancesco’s right-footed shot in the middle of the door in the 7th minute of the second half in a free kick situation.
It was an absurd own goal that decided the game.
In the 19th minute of the second half, defender Antonio Gallo, who was attempting to kick away a cross from Mari Wu Hui, stood in an awkward position and caught the ball with his thigh.
However, the ball picked up speed and headed towards the front of Lecce’s goalkeeper Vladimiro Falcone, and as Falcone tried to catch it, the ball slipped between his hands and was sucked into the goal.
Kim Min-jae, in particular, boasted iron-clad defense and prevented Napoli from scoring additional runs.
According to football statistics site Foot Mob, Kim Min-jae won 7 out of 9 aerial competitions and 4 ground competitions.
He kicked the ball 3 times in the danger zone, and also tried 3 tackles and succeeded 2 times.
He also actively participated in the rear build-up work, attempting 105 passes and recording an 88.6% success rate. 스포츠토토
The media gave Kim Min-jae a rating of 8.5, the highest among both teams.
Another statistics site, WhoScored.com, also gave Kim Min-jae a high rating of 8.2. Kim Min-jae is the only player on both teams whose rating exceeds 8.