Bayern Munich players, including Kim Min-jae, celebrate with their fans after beating Lazio 3-0 in the second leg of the UCL round of 16. Photo = AP PHOTOBayern Munich striker Harry Kane is happy after scoring a goal. Photo = AP PHOTO[이데일리 스타in 이석무 기자] Bayern Munich, ‘a prestigious German professional football team’ with ‘monster defender’ Kim Min-jae on the bench, narrowly secured a ticket to the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League (UCL).
Munich defeated Lazio (Italy) 3-0 in the home match of the UCL 2023-24 round of 16 seconds held at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany on the 6th (Korea time). Munich, who lost the first leg away from home 0-1, won the first leg and the second leg 3-1 on aggregate and progressed to the quarter-finals.
What was more shocking than the result of the game that day was the absence of Kim Min-jae. On this day, Munich replaced Min-jae Kim with Eric Dier and Matthijs Dericht as the starting centre-backs. Dyer and Dericht played full time without anyone in their place.
Kim Min-jae, who joined Munich this season, has been a regular starter. This is the first time he has been absent for reasons other than being called up to the national team or due to injury. Previously, local media had repeatedly predicted that Kim Min-jae would be left out of the starting line-up by Dyer.
Munich, whose team spirit has plummeted recently, won their first refreshing win in a long time. Munich scored the first goal in the 38th minute of the first half. Rafael Guerreiro connected with the back of Thomas Müller’s header with a right footed shot. This shot missed and went towards Kane, who finished with a diving headbutt.
Then, the second goal came in extra time of the first half. De Ligt’s shot from a corner was headed back by Thomas Müller, opening the scoring. In the 21st minute of the second half, Kane scored a key goal. When Leroy Jaune’s shot was blocked by the opposing goalkeeper, Kane struck again to lead the team to a 3-goal victory.
Kane, who scored several goals on this day, increased his tally in the tournament to 6 goals. On the same day, he tied for first place in the scoring positions with Kylian Mbappe, who scored several goals against Real Sociedad.
For Munich, the UCL is the only competition that has an open possibility of winning this season. In the Bundesliga, they are in second place with 54 points, 10 points behind the leader Leverkusen (64 points). The chances of winning the league are slim.
To make matters worse, they suffered a shock defeat to third division Saarbrücken in the German Football Association (DFB) Pokal and were eliminated early in the second round. If they are removed from UCL, they will not be graded for the first time in 12 years.
Because of this situation, Munich has decided to trust manager Thomas Tuchel, whose original contract expires next summer, until this summer only. Manager Xabi Alonso, who leads the league leader Leverkusen this season, is mentioned as a candidate for the next head coach.
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