South Korean center back Kim Min-jae scored his first goal in the UEFA Champions League, a game-winning goal for FC Bayern Munich.
Starting as a center defender, Kim gifted Munich a header goal in the 38th minute of a home game in the fifth round of the 2024-25 UEFA Champions League phase against Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) on Wednesday, leading the team to win by one to zero. He took advantage of a critical mistake made by PSG goalkeeper Matvei Safonov mishandling a corner kick. With the ball rebounding in front of the posts, Kim hit the ball into the net with his head, gaining his first Champions League goal, his second goal this season. He scored his first goal of the 2024-25 Bundesliga season for Munich against Frankfurt on Oct. 7.
He headed to Europe in August 2021 when he joined Fenerbahçe S.K. in Turkey; he went through Napoli, Italy, to end up in Munich in July last year. He made his UEFA Champions League debut in September 2022, playing for Napoli. Wednesday’s match against PSG was his 23rd Champions League match, in which he became the best player of the day. Upon the final whistle, Munich goalkeeper and captain Manuel Neuer lifted up Kim, obviously giving him all the credit.
Playing the full 90 minutes, Kim stood out in defense and buildup with a passing success rate of 93.2 percent, two interceptions, and seven clearances. Football stats app Sofascore gave Kim 8.2 points, the highest score among both teams in the game. Munich’s tight defense line with Kim playing a key role kept a shutout for seven official matches running.
Manchester City blew a three-to-zero lead to tie with Feyenoord by three to three, getting out of a losing streak over the recent five official games but failing to turn around completely. Although leading by three goals, it conceded three consecutive goals for 14 minutes starting from the 30th minute of the second half. British sports analytics company Opta said that it surrendered a three-to-zero lead to lose the game for the first time in 35 years since 1989.
Barcelona’s Robert Lewandowski became the third player to reach the 100-goal threshold in the Champions League. He netted his 100th and 101st goals in a match against Brest, contributing to the club’s victory by three to zero. Previously, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi put their names on the list.
Hong-Gu Kang windup@donga.com