Kim Min-jae’s (Bayern Munich) disappointing performances have been the talk of the town. The constant criticism from club officials has even prompted local media to put up a shield.
German newspaper Bild criticized Thomas Tuchel’s comments after the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal match between Bayern Munich and Real Madrid on Tuesday (June 2). Tuchel criticized Kim Min-jae for a series of mistakes that led to a 2-2 draw that bordered on a tantrum.
“Kim Min-jae shouldn’t be so aggressive when defending. If you can cut the ball off, it’s fine, but if you can’t, it’s dangerous, so you have to be careful.” “In this match, he was very greedy, and he took the defense too easy,” Tuchel said.
The first time Tuchel pointed out Kim Min-jae’s fault was in the 24th minute of the first half. When Real Madrid had the ball and were pressing forward, Kim was supposed to be lining up the back line, but he thought a Toni Kroos pass was going to Vinicius Junior and followed it, leaving himself open at the back.
Real Madrid’s soccer tutor, Kroos, saw Kim Minjae run out and took a beat before delivering a skillful penetrating pass, and Vinicius outpaced him to score the goal. Kim Min-jae realized his mistake and got annoyed with his teammate. He criticized his teammate for not covering the space he left.
In fact, it was this adventurous defense that made him the player he is today. During his time at Napoli, his adventurous defense had a high success rate. This is because when he was out of the game, Stanislav Lobotka was there to fill in for him with his defense and work rate. With the support of his Napoli teammates, including Robotka, Kim was able to be more aggressive in defense. In fact, it’s not an exaggeration to say that the defense was centered around him.
Bayern Munich’s defense, on the other hand, was not the same as Napoli’s. Tuchel stuck to a zone defense, and the defensive midfielders stayed in their positions instead of filling in when Kim was out of position. If Kim didn’t get the ball, it was bound to lead to a goal scoring crisis.
To make matters worse, Kim conceded a penalty in the 38th minute of the second half when he 토토 overcommitted to defending Hodriguez after the score was 2-1, giving up a potentially game-winning goal. For letting Bayern Munich slip away with a convincing victory, public opinion turned cold toward Kim Min-jae.
The Bayern Munich officials are the ones who are pushing Kim further out on a limb. Tuchel didn’t protect the player, but even the chairman, Herbert Heynckes, said, “I wish Kim would be calmer and more cautious,” and openly blamed him for the defeat.
Even Bild observed that “Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti showed a completely different behavior than Tuchel even in the draw.” Bild, who usually criticizes Kim Min-jae, gave him the lowest rating of 6, but it was a nuance that was rather sweet.
“Ancelotti did not blame goalkeeper Andriy Lunin for the mistakes that led to the two goals,” Bild writes. Rather, he said: ‘The whole team made mistakes. I’m not going to talk about individual players’. This is why Ancelotti is so respected,” he retorted.
The mistake on such a big stage made Kim feel small. He walked right past the mix zone where he could talk to reporters after the game. According to Germany’s T-Online, Kim left the stadium with only the words “I’m sorry” in Korean.