There was no winner in the first semi-final round between FC Bayern and Real Madrid – but there was a big loser. Minjae Kim was the main culprit in both Real goals from Vinicius Junior in the 2-2 Champions League classic between the German and Spanish football champions on Tuesday evening. “He was too greedy twice,” coach Thomas Tuchel criticized the defensive giants from South Korea.
The failure of the knee-injured Dutchman Matthijs de Ligt, who was sitting in civilian clothes as a spectator in the stands of the Allianz Arena on Tuesday evening, had fatal consequences. The 27-year-old Kim moved into the center of defense for de Ligt. At 0-1 he was surprised by Vinicius and passer Toni Kroos. “Minjae is not allowed to make the countermovement like that. He was in full sprint in front of Kroos’ pass. That’s too easy,” said Tuchel.
“He wants too much in the actions”
When Vinicius made it 2-2 late, Kim took the penalty with a clumsy foul on Real attacker Rodrygo. “When he makes the second mistake, he has no need to defend it so aggressively,” criticized Tuchel: “He wants too much in the actions and we are punished by Real’s quality.”
Bayern signed Kim from SSC Napoli last summer for a transfer fee of almost 50 million euros. In Naples’ championship season he was named the best defender in Italy’s Serie A and was appreciatively referred to as a “defensive monster”. He doesn’t earn this seal of approval in his first season at Bayern.
Neuer encourages
“He has to go through it, it happens – and we move on,” said Tuchel on Wednesday night. “We’ve already talked to him,” reported captain Manuel Neuer about an error analysis with Kim in the dressing room. “Mistakes happen to us, that’s part of football. But we also caught them,” said national goalkeeper Neuer. However, Tuchel will hope that de Ligt will be fit by the second leg in Madrid next week and can defend alongside Eric Dier again at the Bernabeu Stadium.
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