He is indeed a kicker. Kim Min-jae 28, Bayern Munich faced harsh criticism ahead of an important match against Leverkusen.

Bayern Munich will face Leverkusen at 1:30 a.m. on the 29th in the fifth round of the Bundesliga in the 2024-2025 season at Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany.

It is an important game that can determine the championship competition. Leverkusen, along with Xavi Alonso, won the Bundesliga title for the first time in a row last season, preventing Bayern from winning 12 consecutive league titles. Despite losing early this season, Leverkusen is still one of the leading contenders.

For Bayern, Leverkusen is a mountain that it must overcome. For now, it has started well. Bayern is on a roll with all four games under the leadership of its new coach, Bang Sang Kompany. It scored a whopping 16 points in four games and lost only three times.

For Bayern, Kim Min-jae is likely to start. He has become the main center back along with Dayo Upamecano under Kompany. 토토사이트

Kim had difficulties under Thomas Tuchel last season. He played as a key role with Upamecano in the beginning, but lost the starting position to Eric Dier-Matheis the Licht duo in the second half. This season is different. Kim Min-jae, who is starting every game Bayern has played under the trust of Coach Kompany.

There are also evaluations in Germany that the “Monster Defender” has been revived. Kim Min-jae has been generally stable except for the fatal mistakes he made in the opening match against Wolfsburg.

In particular, the highlight was the match against Werder Bremen, which was the previous match. Kim did not allow a single shot against Bremen, and displayed an iron wall defense. He formed a high defense line by working with Upamecano and cut off the ball in advance with his fast feet. As a result, Bayern finished the game without losing a point, completing a landslide 5-0 victory.

While playing the full-time game for 90 minutes, Kim never lost possession of the team, boasting a tackle success rate of 100 percent 2/2, a ground race success rate of 100 percent 2/2, and an aerial race success rate of 5/5. “Confident Kim Min-jae is one of the best central defenders in Europe. He has regained confidence in his capabilities in all competitions,” Germany’s TZ said. “He showed no problem in competition with the opposing striker. He always advanced cautiously and blocked potential counterattacks in advance,” giving the highest rating of one point.

They are Kim Min-jae and Upamecano, who completely eliminated Dyer. “Dyer played in two matches this season, and he still played for about 30 minutes,” Germany’s Sport 1 said. “The reason is that Kim Min-jae and Upamecano had faster speed. Dyer will not have many chances to play in the upcoming match against Bayer Leverkusen.”

However, “Kicker” still gives a harsh evaluation to Kim. Ahead of the match, the kicker analyzed the performance of Bayern and Leverkusen, and harshly criticized Kim. He threw a question mark over Kim’s performance in the Bundesliga, which was ranked as the “Best 11” in the last round.

Kicker said, “Coach Kompany needs players with high defense line and fast feet. Therefore, he chose Upamecano and Kim Min-jae duo instead of Dyer. The opening match against Wolfsburg confirmed people’s suspicion that the two were Bayern’s weakest center-back duo last season.”

The media then added, “Upamecano should be basically classified and with a stable leader. Kim Min-jae lacks pass quality and ball guard ability. We will be able to see if the combination of Kim Min-jae and Upamecano works in the upcoming games with strong teams.”

The kicker also said Hiroki Ito, who was hired from Stuttgart, could be substituted soon. Ito, the Japanese national team center back, left the team due to a fractured metatarsal bone during the pre-season, but is reportedly aiming to return to training within this month. He will be almost impossible to play in the match against Leverkusen.

Kicker is one of the media outlets that puts strict standards on Kim. He continued to criticize Bayern, blaming Kim Min-jae for its poor performance in the last season. When other German media outlets praised Kim, they gave Kim three points in grading.

Again this time, he mentioned only mistakes made against Wolfsburg. He only criticized his ability to pass and guard balls, without taking into account Kim’s performances in the next three games. Upamecano was selected as one of the main center backs, and there was a nuance that Kim would lose out in the competition to become a partner.

It is the opposite of TZ’s assessment. “Kim Min-jae, Upamecano and Bayern’s new bar defense,” TZ said recently. “Coach Kompany is using the two as main defenders. His trust has been shining since the beginning of the season,” highlighting the performance of the Kim Min-jae and Upamecano duo.

The media also said, “Kim Min-jae ranks first in the team with 66.7 percent of tackle success rate in the league. He is also No. 1 in the competition, beating Upamecano with 63.51% of victory rate,” adding, “Kompany gives clear instructions to players. During the Tuchel era, it was often unclear when center backs should advance or not. This is helpful to Kim Min-jae, who boasts the most wins 21 times in the air ball competition league.”