Kim Min-jae, whose mental state has collapsed… Napoli also lost by 4 points
Napoli’s central defense, led by Kim Min-jae, who was at the center of recent controversy in the national team, collapsed. Napoli lost 4 goals against AC Milan.
Napoli lost 0-4 to Rafael Leão in the 2022-23 Italian Serie A home game against AC Milan held at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in Naples, Italy on the 3rd (Korean time).
The reason why Napoli lost by conceding 4 goals in this match was because the central defense led by Kim Min-jae was completely destroyed.
Kim Min-jae was rated as the best central defender in the entire football world this season, but he was not the one he showed in the match against AC Milan.
In the 17th minute of the first half, the scene in which Leang gave the opening goal also originated from Kim Min-jae’s forward pass mistake. Of course, Kim Min-jae’s mistake did not lead to a goal immediately, but it led to Leão’s goal after receiving a lateral pass from Brahim Diaz in a situation where AC Milan gave the right to attack.
The fact that Diaz allowed a goal in the 25th minute of the first half was related to Min-jae Kim’s failure to handle it properly in the center. He tried to handle the ball from the left flank as a header during an aerial contest with an AC Milan player, but failed to do so, giving Diaz an excuse to concede a goal.
As if trying to make up for this mistake, Kim Min-jae actively participated in the attack in the 9th minute of the second half and showed a cross from the side, but it was not possible. In the 22nd minute of the second half, Kim Min-jae was unable to properly block Alexis Selemacius’ dribble breakthrough and had to watch helplessly for the fourth run.
Kim Min-jae was not the only one who collapsed in this game. Amir Rahmani, who was in charge of central defense with Kim Min-jae, was also sluggish. Judging from the fact that whoscored.com, a soccer statistics site, gave Kim Min-jae 5.6 points and Rahmani 5.7 points, it cannot be said that this happened because Kim Min-jae was not alone.
However, it seems certain that Kim Min-jae was sluggish that day. It is interpreted that the remark that he would focus only on his team after the A match was over led to controversy over his retirement from the national team, which made him mentally difficult. With Son Heung-min and SNS unfollowing incidents, it is possible to predict whether the part where there are conflicts and misunderstandings between players, etc., will also affect Kim Min-jae’s performance. 토토사이트
Moreover, Napoli has to play two matches in the quarterfinals of the 2022-2023 European Football Association (UEFA) Champions League against AC Milan, which was defeated that day. As they collapsed by conceding four goals to AC Milan, they could be psychologically pushed out of the race to advance to the UEFA Champions League semifinals. If Kim Min-jae does not overcome this, his reputation that he has built all season may collapse in an instant.
On the other hand, although Napoli lost the match, it is still ahead of second place Lazio (16 wins, 7 draws, 5 losses, 55 points) with 23 wins, 2 draws and 3 losses (71 points) with 16 points. With 10 games left to go, even if Lazio wins all the remaining 10 games and adds 30 points, it is only 85 points. Napoli can win the league title on their own even if they accumulate only 15 points, equivalent to five wins.