Kim Min-jae scores his debut goal in Serie A

South Korean football player Kim Min-jae of Napoli scored his debut goal in Serie A, an Italian professional football league. As a central defender on the left side, Kim made a headed goal 48 minutes into the second half of a home game against A.C. Monza held in Naples on Monday. His debut in the Serie A was an away game against Hellas Verona last Tuesday after transferring from Fenerbahce to Napoli on July 27. Kim’s first goal in the Italian league came during his second game in the league. Napoli won the match 4-0 and earned the second consecutive win since the opening of the 2022-2023 season.

While Kim helped the team win with a goal, he also played an important role as a defender. According to SofaScore, a football statistics media company, Kim got the ball seven out of nine times when he was competing for the ball with the opposition team’s player – three out of five times on the ground and four out of four times in the air. He also recorded five clearances, which are the essential metric for defenders, and one interception, putting himself in the top position in the team for both metrics.

“Kim’s first Azzurro goal finished the game,” said the official Twitter account of Napoli with a picture of Kim. Azzurro is the color of the team. “Kim showed good performance in his debut game and even scored a goal in the first home game,” the team’s manager Luciano Spalletti said, further raising expectations for Kim. ”Kim needs to be more active during games. I'm sure he can do even better.”


Dong-Wook Kim creating@donga.com