‘Monster defender’ Kim Min-jae (26, Napoli) made a successful debut by playing full-time in the first match of Italian professional soccer Serie A.
Minjae Kim started as a left center back in the Serie A first round away match against Ellas Verona held at Marcantonio Bentegodi Stadium in Verona, Italy on the 16th (Korean time) and played until the end of the match.
Kim Min-jae, who joined Naples from Fenerbahce (Turkey) last month, showed stable performance on the Italian stage as well.
Not only did he block the opponent’s attack, but in the 13th minute of the first half, he led the ball from midfield to the opponent’s penalty area with a breakthrough with speed.
He was aggressively contested throughout the game and was given a second-half extra-time warning.
Napoli beat Verona 5-2 on the day and harvested 3 points.
The opening goal went to Verona.
In the 29th minute of the first half, from a corner kick, Korai Gunter dropped the ball to the head, and Kevin Lasagna kicked it from the front door to shake the net.
Napoli also responded with a header equalizing by Kvicha Kvaratskelia in the 37th minute of the first half.
In the 48th minute of the first half, Victor Osimen finished the ball from Giovanni Di Lorenzo’s head after a corner kick to make it 2-1.
Verona re-balanced with a goal from Thomas Henry in the third minute of the second half, but Napoli dominated the opponent with three goals in the second half alone.
Starting with the winning goal from Fjord Zielinski in the 10th minute of the second half, Stanislau Robotka 10 minutes later, and Matteo Politano in the 34th minute of the second half opened the scoring to complete the three-goal victory.
/yunhap news