German professional football Bayern Munich’s “iron pillar” Kim Min-jae scored his debut goal in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) and his second goal of the season.

Kim Min-jae started in a home game against Paris Saint-Germain (PSG, France) in Game 5 of the 2024-2025 UCL League phase at Allianz Arena in Germany on the 27th (Korea time) and scored the first set-piece header in the 38th minute of the first half to take the lead in Munich’s 1-0 victory.

When the opposing goalkeeper failed to punch a corner kick close to the goal line from the left, Kim Min-jae shook the net with his head at the gate.

It was Kim’s debut goal at the UCL. Having entered the European leagues by wearing Fenerbahce (Turkey) uniform in 2021, Kim has scored goals at times in Serie A and Bundesliga in Italy, but has never scored an offensive point in club competitions.

It was Kim Min-jae’s second goal of the season, who had one goal in the league alone. Kim scored his first goal of the season in the sixth round of the Bundesliga against Frankfurt on June 6.

He was flawless even in his main job of defense. He blocked opponent teams’ shots once, recorded two interceptions and seven kickbacks.

While PSG, which was pressed by Munich’s momentum from the beginning, had difficulty in creating scoring opportunities, Kim Min-jae contributed to Munich’s scoreless victory by selecting an outstanding position to block the path of the opponent’s attack, such as breaking a pass to Nunu Mendes, who ran to the front line with his back foot in the fifth minute of the second half.

In the 11th minute of the second half, PSG striker Usman Dembele was sent off due to accumulated warnings, and the match was tilted further toward Munich.

Dembele, who received a yellow card for protesting excessively in the first half, received a second yellow card for a deep tackle on Munich Alfonso Davis, who was about to go on the counterattack.

PSG, which was on the verge of defeat, put Lee Kang-in instead of Warren Zaire Emery in the 20th minute of the second half as its first replacement card. Lee Kang-in made Munich nervous with a sharp left-footed kick from time to time, but failed to change the flow of defense.

Both Kim Min-jae and Lee Kang-in stayed on the ground until the whistle blew. It was the first time in 13 years that a Korean player had a showdown at the UCL since Park Ji-sung of the Manchester United (England) and Park Ju-ho of the FC Basel (Switzerland) in the 2011-2012 season.

Munich had to settle for a one-point victory in the 29th minute of the second half when Jermal Musiala’s decisive shot was caught by goalkeeper Matvei Saponov’s fingertips.

Munich took the 11th place (nine points) in the UCL League phase after seven consecutive wins. On the other hand, PSG fell to the 26th place (four points), which prevented it from advancing to the tournament, putting it on alert.

Kim Min-jae’s position in the team seemed still unstable until the beginning of this season. Kim Min-jae was frequently pointed out as the main reason for Munich’s failure to win the championship due to frequent mistakes last season.

He observed his performance in the first half, but in the second half, he continued to make mistakes that led to runs in important games, and eventually fell behind in the main competition.

Regarding Kim Min-jae, who had an unstable first season in Munich, there were many rumors that he would return to Serie A in Italy in the summer or that he could move to other big clubs such as Manchester United (England) and Atletico Madrid (Spain).

Kim was a bit sluggish in the beginning of this season as well. In the league opener against Wolfsburg (Munich 3-2 win), Kim lost a point due to a pass error.

After the match, Kim received special training with his center back partner Dayo Upamecano under the guidance of Bangsang Kongpani. Kongpani is a young leader from a world-class center background.

Even though Kim Min-jae’s performance returned to normal, the German media used to blame him for nothing.

In particular, local media intensively questioned Kim Min-jae’s unique “active defense method” of preemptively blocking the opponent’s pass path.

The Bavarian Football Association, which mainly deals with news on Munich, said, “Kim Min-jae’s positioning is still a problem. It is a bad habit, not just a few mistakes,” while Bild, a leading magazine, criticized Munich for its poor performance in the UEFA Champions League match, in which it lost 1-4 to Barcelona. “He was a mess. He did not do his best when his team was losing.”

However, Kim Min-jae did his part in every game without shaking, and scored the winning goal in the match against PSG on the 27th to dispel such concerns and distrust.

Footmob, a soccer statistics website, gave Kim an 8.3 rating, the highest for both teams. He was also named as 구글SEO‘s Player of the Match.

Coach Kongpani generously praised Kim Min-jae and other defense teams after the game.

“The strikers don’t have fun at our Munich training ground. If strikers aren’t happy, it means the defenders are doing something good,” he said. “Playing always requires confidence and time.”