[골닷컴, 여의도] Reporter Kang Dong-hoon = Legends continued to praise ‘Iron Pillar’ Kim Min-jae (Bayern Munich). Following Fabio Cannavaro and Marco Materazzi (Italy), this time Gianluca Zambrotta and Massimo Oddo (Italy) gave high praise.
Zambrotta and Odo attended the ‘Legend All-Star Game’ press conference held at the Fairmont Ambassador in Yeouido, Seoul on the afternoon of the 11th. When asked to evaluate Kim Min-jae, who dominated the Italian Serie A while playing for Naples last season, they answered, “He is truly the best defender.” collected.
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In particular, Zambrotta said, “I watched him consistently, and he was an ‘important key’ for Napoli to win the title for the first time in 33 years last season. He praised him as “a very cool and excellent defender,” and praised him so highly that he said, “I didn’t have the luck of playing with Kim Min-jae because we weren’t from the same era.” In addition, he expressed regret, saying, “I regret leaving Italy by transferring to Bayern Munich (this summer).”
Odo also said, “Unfortunately, we couldn’t play together because the times were different. “I briefly played for Bayern Munich during my active career, and it would have been nice if we had been born in the same era and met and worked together, but it’s a shame we couldn’t,” he said, giving a thumbs up, saying, “I think he’s really the best defender.”
Cannavaro and Materazzi, who visited Korea last month before Zambrotta and Odo, also said of Kim Min-jae, “He is the best defender. He played a crucial role in Napoli winning the title. He was full of praise, saying, “I would like to congratulate him on his successful performance.”
In particular, Cannavaro said, “I saw it in person when I was a director in China. Of course, he was a great player back then, but he sometimes made mistakes. However, he has grown a lot while playing in Europe over the past two years,” he said. “He showed great performance last season and won the Scudetto. “It’s amazing,” he praised. And in a recent local interview, he predicted, “Kim Min-jae’s departure could have a huge impact on Naples and cause a huge shock.”
Legends’ praise for Kim Min-jae continues to flow. In addition to Cannavaro, Materazzi, Zambrotta, and Odo, Antonio Cassano, Alessandro Matri, and Giuseppe Bruscolotti (all of Italy) unanimously praised Napoli, saying, “Napoli has lost the best player in the world.”
The reason why Italian legends, who are known for their ‘big defense’, praised Kim Min-jae so much is because of his outstanding performance last season. In fact, as soon as he put on the Napoli uniform last summer, he immediately established himself as a ‘key player’ and showed off his ‘monstrous’ defensive ability against prominent strikers not only in Serie A but also in the UEFA Champions League (UCL).
In fact, Minjae Kim boasted a stable defense with solid physical strength, high speed, and intelligent play while playing in 45 official games (44 as a starter). He also connected passes smoothly without mistakes during the rear build-up, and showed his advantage in set pieces, scoring two goals. In particular, he perfectly filled the space left by Kalidou Koulibaly (Al Hilal). This earned it the nickname ‘Iron Pillar’.
Amid his outstanding performance, he was awarded the Serie A Player of the Month award in September of last year, and took the lead in helping Napoli rise to the top of Italy for the first time in 33 years. And he was selected as the best defender and best team in Serie A for the 2022-2023 season. He set a ‘great record’ as the first Asian national to win the award and the first winner to come from a winning team.
2023-09-11 22:19:03
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