“I don’t understand how he laughs like that. Has Carragher ever done better than Kim Min-jae?”
Kim Min-jae (28, Bayern Munich), who dropped his head, was defended by fans.
Bayern Munich drew 2-2 with Real Madrid in the first leg of the 2023-2024 UEFA Champions League (UCL) semifinal match held at Pusbal Arena Munich in Munich, Germany, on the 1st (Korea time).
Bayern Munich will have to win at an away match to Real Madrid to advance to the final. The two teams will play their second match at the Santiago Bernabeu on Saturday.
Kim Min-jae started on the UCL stage for the first time in a long time. It was the first time since the first leg of the UCL round of 16 against Lazio in February. Kim Min-jae played with Eric Dier, taking the opportunity with Matisse the Licht’s knee injury and Dayo Upamecano’s ankle injury. It was a precious opportunity for him to regain his starting position that was lost.
However, his first semi-final stage in “War of Stars” ended in a nightmare. Kim had his worst night ever, making two mistakes that directly led to his loss. Kim ran after Vinicius Junior in the 24th minute and allowed space in the back. Vinicius did not miss it, and scored the first goal by receiving a precise pass from Toni Kroos.
Kim Min-jae showed his regret by looking at right fullback Jojua Kimmich and shouting immediately after the loss. He seemed to be unusually angry that something was wrong with the promised play.
Since then, he has displayed stable performance for some time. Kim contributed to his team’s winning penalty kick with his accurate forward pass, and displayed his presence by cutting the ball off quickly with his aggressive defense. In the second half, he also enjoyed playing defense in which he ran away again.
The problem came at the end of the game. Kim tried to block a dribbling hodrigo from inside the box in the 37th minute of the second half when Bayern Munich was leading 2-1, but he tripped over and awarded the penalty kick. Vinicius calmly scored the penalty kick as the kicker achieved the balance 2-2. Bayern Munich ended up having to swallow its disappointment by missing the victory that it had secured.
Kim Min-jae couldn’t avoid being responsible for the draw. Criticism level was leveled at the level of bombardment. Germany’s Bild even used the term “catastrophe” to give the lowest score of six points. In fact, no one gave good ratings. Both Spox and Sport scored Kim 5.5 points, while TZ also gave Kim five points.
“Kim Min-jae made two mistakes and received a rating of six,” said T-Online, too. The Licht’s absence had fatal consequences. “Kim Min-jae has once again failed to prove that he can replace him,” he said. “Kim Min-jae has become a horror for Bayern Munich and a nightmare for Tuchel. He has struggled since early this year, right after his return to the Asian Cup. He was partly responsible for the losing streak by making multiple mistakes. Now, Kim Min-jae is on the verge of losing his starting position ahead of the second leg.”
“Goal Dotcom” also criticized Kim Min-jae as a “fake” of his time in Naples. “After losing the first try, I bizarrely scolded Kim Mi-hee, and criticized him as if it was all his fault. It was a cheap imitation of the dominant defender that we saw in Serie A,” the media said.
Bayern Munich did not embrace Kim Min-jae either. Tuchel said, “Kim Min-jae was overly greedy twice. He had a lot of defensive numbers, 5 to 2. He committed a foul when Dier was on his way to help.” He also said, “I wish I could act a little more calmly and carefully. Rather than trying to force myself to come out, I wish I could just stand behind the opponent.”
Some even said that Kim Min-jae is Bayern Munich’s weak point. Jamie Carragher, who played as a defender for Liverpool, burst into laughter on “CBS Sports” and said, “It’s because of Kim Min-jae. Bayern Munich beat Arsenal in the quarterfinals because the team faced Jakub Kivior, which was not up to par. Kivior was in danger of Arsenal. Kim Min-jae was like that today.” 안전놀이터
“Bayern Munich controlled the game more and was a better team. However, it was disappointing because of the defender. Arsenal did the same. Just as Bayern Munich attacked the weaker part (Kivior) of Arsenal, Real Madrid seems to have attacked the weaker part (Kim Min-jae) of Bayern Munich this time,” Carragher added.
However, most fans criticized Carragher. A video clip of Carragher’s remarks included comments such as “A bad game does not define a player,” “Kim Min-jae did not play all season. And Tuchel throws him out for the biggest game,” “That’s funny. Had Kim Min-jae not committed a foul, Hodrigo would have scored,” and “I don’t understand how Carragher can laugh like he did better than Kim Min-jae even once.”
There were several opinions in favor of Kim Min-jae as well. One fan who identified himself as a supporter of Real Madrid said, “As you would know if you watched the entire game, Kim defended well. He followed the markman in the first run, but no one covered the vacancy.” Other fans also said, “Kim Min-jae did not even play bad. Penalties at least give the goalkeeper a chance,” and added, “Kim Min-jae was not so bad. He was solid before the foul.”
Meanwhile, Kim reportedly delivered an apology in Korean after leaving the mixed zone without an interview. He seems to be deeply discouraged as he knows his mistake better than anyone else.
T-Online said, “It was just after midnight that Kim Min-jae bowed his head and left. He did not stop in front of reporters waiting in the mix zone. It was expected after a serious mistake. He looked at the Korean reporters with a sad face and said, ‘I am so sorry’ in his native language. He was most worried about his inexplicable mistake and apologized.”