The team won, but Kim Min-jae couldn’t laugh. Bayern Munich succeeded in advancing to the next round of the European competition with a complete victory without Kim Min-jae.
Munich won 3-0 in the second leg of the 2023-2024 UEFA Champions League round of 16 against SS Lazio at Fusbal Arena Munich (Allianz Arena) in Munich, Germany, on the 6th (Korea time) thanks to Harry Kane’s multi-goal and Thomas Muller’s score.
Munich, which lost 0-1 in the first leg of the last 16 round, won the second leg at home by three goals and won the first and second games 3-1 to advance to the quarterfinals. On the contrary, Lazio, who caught Munich at home, failed to maintain their dominance and failed to advance to the quarterfinals of the Champions League for the first time in 24 years.
Coach Thomas Tuchel, who leads Munich on the day, replaced key defender Kim Min-jae with Eric Dier and Matthijs Dericht as starters, and the two center-back duo finished the game scoreless and led the team to the quarterfinals of the Champions League, turning on a red light for the main competition.
◆ Tuchel’s choice is Dyer-Dericht Duo… Kim Min-jae’s bench that happened in reality
The home team Bayern Munich put up a 4-2-3-1 formation. Manuel Neuer put on the goalkeeper’s gloves, and Rafael Geheiro, Eric Dier, Matthijs Derich, and Joshua Kimmich made up the back four. Aleksandar Pavlovic and Leon Goretzka stepped up as double bolans. The second line is Leroy Sane, Thomas Muller, and Jamal Musiala. One-top is Harry Kane. Kim Min-jae made the bench list.
The visiting team Lazio responded 4-3-3. Ivan Provedelgi defended the goal, and Luca Pellegrini, Alessio Romanoli, Mario Guilla, and Adam Marusic formed the back four. The three midfielders are Luis Alberto, Matthias Vesino, and Matteo Guiengdu. Felipe Andersson, Ciro Immobile, and Matia Zacani are the three top players.
Munich lost 0-1 in the first leg of the round of 16 against Lazio at Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy, on the 15th of last month. On the same day, Kim Min-jae played with Dayo Upamecano in the central defense, and Munich, where Harry Kane played at the front line, faced off without scoring a goal in the first half.
In the second half, Dayo Upamecano’s red card and penalty kick in the 22nd minute of the second half became a variable that greatly influenced the game. Upamecano stepped on and knocked down Gustav Isaksen, the opposing striker who shoots inside the penalty area, and a penalty was declared.
At this time, Chiro Immobile, who played as a penalty kicker, hit a low ball with his right foot and kicked it, becoming Lazio’s first winning goal.
Munich, which was outnumbered by rival teams and had lost points, launched an offensive but failed to change the situation, agonizing over its defeat. On the day, Munich fired 17 shots, more than Lazio, but failed to record any shots on goal. Lazio had four shots on goal out of 11 shots.
Kim Min-jae, who joined Munich this season and played as a built-in center back throughout the first half of the season ahead of the second leg, which is desperate for victory after losing the first leg, seems to have been pushed out by Dyer recently. Kim Min-jae, who returned after participating in the 2023 Asian Football Confederation (AFC) Asian Cup, failed to perform in any special performance in the three games he started and was criticized by local media.
Kim gave up three runs in his return match against Bayer Leverkusen, which suffered a 0-3 defeat. After the match, the German soccer magazine Kicker gave Kim 4.5 points in grading. On the other hand, he gave four points to Dier, who was his partner. The lower the score, the better the rating, so Kim got a poorer rating than Dier.
In the first leg of the Champions League’s round of 16, Kim Min-jae also started in an away match against Lazio. However, Munich lost 0-1 when Dayo Upamecano sent off the team after allowing a penalty kick. He started in an away match against Bochum, but gave up another three goals, showing lackluster performance.
Munich, which had four wins and one loss in five matches during Kim’s participation in the Asian Cup, lost its third straight official match after Kim’s return. Thomas Tuchel sent Kim to the bench against Leipzig. This was the first time since his debut match, the DFL-Super Cup. Munich won the match 2-1.
At the match against Freiburg, he returned to the starting lineup. However, Munich lost two goals and drew 2-2. Then, local media in Germany predicted that Kim Min-jae would sit on the bench against Lazio.
“Kim Min-jae lost the competition with Dyer and Duricht. In the match against Lazio, Dyer and Duricht will work together,” Bild said. “There is no room for Kim anymore. Kim Min-jae should sit on the bench in a really important match.”
Kicker also claimed, “The lineup against Lazio needs a big decision. Kim Min-jae no longer guarantees safety. In central defense, the solution should be Dyer and Duricht.”
Avent Zeitung said, “Kim Min-jae’s deterioration of form suggests that Dyer and Duricht are likely to form a center back line. Recently, Kim Min-jae played too much, made careless mistakes, and lacked tempo,” predicting that Kim Min-jae, who is clearly deteriorating in performance, will go down to the bench.
UEFA expected Kim Min-jae to start, but Kim Min-jae started on the bench as local media predicted.
In addition to Kim Min-jae, Dayo Upamecano, Noussair Mazrawi, Kingsley Comang, Buna Sarr and Sasha Boy were also suspended from the second game against Lazio due to injuries.
◆ Munich in a wave of offensive… Reversing the game and getting close to the quarterfinals
In the 6th minute of the first half, Munich made a good attack and threatened Lazio’s goal. Mueller, who received a long pass near the penalty box, gave the ball to Sane, who was on the right, and Sane’s left-footed shot headed straight to the goalkeeper, and Lazio goalkeeper Provedel safely caught it.
A minute later, Sane drew Lazio’s defense’s attention in the box with a good dribble breakthrough and gave it to Musiala, who was next to him, but Musiala’s shot did not lead to a shot on goal because it was blocked by Lazio’s defenders’ hand-to-hand defense.
In the 14th minute of the first half, Munich passed to Musiala, who was outside the box, rather than kicking a cross from a corner. Musiala fired a right-footed mid-range shot from outside the box, but as he headed straight to the goalkeeper, Provedel made a save.
In the 17th minute of the first half, Munich’s world-class striker Kane attempted a right-footed shot outside the box, which deflected off the defense and headed to the corner of the net, but slightly off the net, leading to Munich’s corner kick. Later, Munich’s corner kick attack was cleared by Lazio and succeeded in defending.
In the 24th minute of the first half, Lazio defenders blocked Munich’s attack with a hand-to-hand defense. Musiala’s shot right in front of the net was blocked by a defensive wall, and Lazio fullback Marusic also blocked Geheiro’s subsequent shot.
In the 33rd minute of the first half, a rare situation occurred in which the referee interfered with Munich’s attack development. In the process of avoiding Müller’s cut-back pass to Pavlovic, the referee slipped and fell and blocked the ball in the middle. Afterwards, the referee raised his arms and made a gesture of sorry.
In the 25th minute of the first half, Dyer, who was waiting for Kimmich’s cross in the box, attempted a header shot to match his head, but the shot flew over the net, leading to Lazio’s goal kick.
Lazio, who had endured Munich’s attack, missed a critical goal opportunity in the 37th minute of the first half. Nakani’s cross from the left side deflected off Duricht’s head and went to Immobile at the back, who fired a header but headed to the side of the net.
Munich scored the first goal in the 38th minute of the first half, making the combined score 1-1 in the first and second games. The precious equalizer was Kane, the main striker of Munich.
Pavlovic’s long pass was the starting point for the goal. Müller hit Pavlovic’s pass into the box to the head and dropped it in front of the net, which did not lead to a shot as it was wrongly hit by Geheiru’s foot. Kane then put the ball that Geheiru kicked into the net with his head, turning the game back to square one.
Munich succeeded in turning the tables with one more goal given one minute of added time in the first half. In the corner kick situation, the cross hit the defensive wall and the ball flowed backward, and Duricht fired a right-footed shot of remorse in the box. At this time, Duricht’s shot hit Mueller’s head and went straight into the net, leading to Munich’s goal 밤알바.
As the first half ended after the goal, Munich finished the second half of the round of 16 with a combined score of 2-1, bringing them closer to the quarterfinals. In the 45th minute of the first half, Munich took advantage of the home game advantage to take 59% of the ball possession, and succeeded in reversing the game by trying 17 times while allowing three shots. 밤알바
◆ Kane Achieved Multi-Goal… Munich Reaches Quarterfinals Relaxedly Even after the second half began, Munich took the lead in the game. In the 14th minute of the second half, Geheiru, who received Kane’s pass, fired a left-footed shot at the far post, slightly off the post, cooling Lazio’s blood. Lazio, who needed one goal to bring the game back to square one, replaced three players in the 16th minute of the second half to boost the game. Except for Besino, Zacani and Immobile, Danilo Cataldi, Gustav Isaksen and Valentin Castellanos made major changes to the offense. In the 21st minute of the second half, Kane added another goal and scored multiple goals, sealing the game. Provedel’s left-footed kick shot was saved and hit to the side, but Kane scored without difficulty as the ball fell in front of Kane. As Kane scored a goal in the second half following the first half, Munich became likely to advance to the quarterfinals with a combined score of 3-1. On the contrary, Lazio failed to maintain their first-round advantage in Munich’s away game and are in a situation where they will fail to advance to the quarterfinals of the Champions League for the first time in 24 years. In the 26th minute of the second half, Müller also came into the box and tried to score multiple goals, but his right foot shot was blocked by Provedel’s good defense. Since then, Sane’s left-footed shot slightly off the post and did not lead to a goal. In the 28th minute of the second half, Lazio midfielder Alberto fired a sharp right-footed shot from the box, but he got a corner kick as he went out against the defense. Since then, Lazio have had trouble scoring a chasing goal as they failed to make a shot in the corner kick attack. Munich also used two replacement cards in the 33rd minute of the second half. With the exception of Geheiro and Müller, the team introduced Alfonso Davis and Matisse Tell to make a difference in the game. Lazio excluded Alberto at the 35th minute of the second half and deployed Daichi every time. As the game was nearing its end, there were four minutes of extra time in the second half, but Munich finished the game without Kim Min-jae. Munich, which won 3-1 in the combined score of the first and second games, succeeded in reaching the quarterfinals of the Champions League after overcoming an 0-1 defeat in the first round. Meanwhile, Dyer, who started on behalf of Kim Min-jae, helped the team win no points along with Duricht, taking the main position of Munich and threatening Kim Min-jae’s position. Dyer played full time in the 90 minutes, contributing to his team’s victory by recording 95% pass success rate (76/80), 75% long pass success rate (6/8), three cleanups, two interceptions, and five recovery times.