‘Iron Pillar’ Kim Min-jae faced the dream-like reality of ‘Scudetto (Italian champion)’ in the first season after moving to Naples.
Kim Min-jae supported a 1-1 draw in the 33rd round of Italian Serie A in the 2022-2023 season with Udinese held at the Dacia Arena in Udine, Italy on the 5th (Korean time).
Napoli, which was able to secure an early victory by acquiring at least one point, was dragged off by Cindy Lobrich’s opening goal in the 13th minute of the first half, but ‘Ace’ Victor Osimen’s equalizer in the 7th minute of the second half secured a valuable victory point. After the match, Kim Min-jae enjoyed the joy of winning with the Napoli fans who rushed to the ground. Fans demanded a ‘wearing uniform’.
With this, Napoli recorded 80 points from 25 wins, 5 draws and 3 losses, and with 5 games left, the gap with second place Lazio (64 points) widened to 16 points to confirm their own championship. Napoli won its third championship in 33 years since 1990, when Diego Maradona was active.
Kim Min-jae’s performance was great. Kim Min-jae, who moved to Naples from Fenerbahce last summer, quickly became the starting pitcher. He played in 32 of the 33 games the team played and led the team to an early win with the least runs.
Napoli coach Luciano Spalletti praised Kim Min-jae, who is receiving attention from big clubs in England, as “the world’s best centre-back,” showing off his peak skills. 안전놀이터
Kim Min-jae expressed his physical and psychological difficulties after finishing the A match in March, and actually went through difficult times before and after the quarterfinals of the European Champions League with AC Milan, but ‘perfect resurrection’ through Juventus (1-0), Napoli’s victory led
Korean football will be crowned the champion of the top 5 European leagues in 12 years since Park Ji-sung (then Manchester United) won the Premier League in 2011. Kim Min-jae also earned the title of the first Korean defender to win a major European league title.
Lee Young-pyo, Ahn Jung-hwan, Lee Seung-woo and others have played the Italian stage, but the Korean scudetto is the first ever. In Asia, it has been 22 years since Hidetoshi Nakata won the title at AS Roma in 2001.
Kim Min-jae is stepping on a career that is not enviable by increasing the number of league championships in his personal career to three, including two K-League 1 championships in Jeonbuk.