On the 30th, Roman top three tie… Napoli wins 2-1
Admiral Mourinho praised “Kim Min-jae is a great player”
Napoli “monster defender” Kim Min-jae (27) of the Italian professional football team made a fatal mistake that almost led to an own goal by missing a sign with the goalkeeper, but AS Roma coach José Mourinho gave his thumbs up.
In the 2022-23 Italian Serie A round 20 home match held at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium in Naples, Italy on the 30th (Korea time), Napoli scored against AS Roma, with Stefan El Sharawi scoring a goal thanks to goals from Victor Osimen and Giovanni Simeone defeat 2-1. Serie A leader Napoli, who won 4 consecutive wins with 17 wins, 2 draws and 1 loss (53 points), widened the gap to second place Inter Milan (13 wins, 1 draw, 6 losses, 40 points) by 13 points, winning the championship for the first time in 33 years, a step closer
There was a critical mistake by Kim Min-jae at the start of the game. On this day, Kim Min-jae, who took the stamp from the start of work, tried to block the long ball sent by Leonard Spinazzola from Rome into the goal in the 12th minute of the first half, 0-0, with a header, but the ball flowed backwards and hit the post a little. Under the circumstances, Kim Min-jae appears to be trying to pass the ball to goalkeeper Alex Mere with a backward header, but he almost conceded the opening goal as he came forward to catch Mereger’s ball, as if the sign did not match.
However, except for this scene, Kim Min-jae endlessly cleaned the ground, cutting, blocking, stealing, kicking and tackling. Roma ace Paulo defended Davala with tough pressure, and was not outdone in a head-to-head contest with tall striker Tammy Abraham. In addition to the two, Rome’s top three, including Lorenzo Pellegrini, were hampered by Kim Min-jae’s brilliant performance that day and failed to register a single effective shot. Davala and Pellegrini only had one shot each which was far from goal. According to whoscored.com, a football statistics site, Kim Min-jae showed his invincible defense, recording 9 kicks and 2 shooting shirts, the most among the two teams.
Nevertheless, Napoli conceded a goal that day, but at 30 minutes of the second half, in a long distance crossing situation, striker Irving Lozano went into the box to defend and missed El Sharawi. There was also a situation where Kim Min-jae could score a field goal. In the 18th minute of the second half, in a counterattack situation, they rushed into the opponent’s goal following Rossano, but Rossano was greedy and fired a direct shot and the ball went out. If he had given the ball to Kim Min-jae, he could have taken a shot in a deserted field.
Coach Mourinho, who drew attention by revealing the secret story of Kim Min-jae’s failed recruitment during Tottenham’s command tower, praised Kim Min-jae after the match. According to local Napoli media, Mourinho was asked about Dybala’s sluggish performance and said, “Dybala was disappointing? I don’t like to talk about individual players,” he said. “Kim Min-jae and Amir Rahmani are players with a very strong interpersonal defense. (Among them) Kim Min-jae is a great player.”
Coach Mourinho also suddenly mentioned Kim Min-jae in a pre-press conference held on the 28th, saying, “I will tell you a story about a player in Napoli.” Mourinho made two or three video calls to recruit Kim Min-jae during his time as Tottenham manager, but regretted having to give it up because the club didn’t want to spend money.
Reporter Hong Ji-min
