Will Kim Min-jae (27, Napoli), a defender who represents Korean football, be able to lift the championship trophy and hit the finish line?
Min-jae Kim’s club, 메이저놀이터the Italian professional football team Napoli, will once again challenge to win the Serie A title for the first time in 33 years. In addition, with the story of Naples’ Korean tour coming out in Italy, attention is focused on whether or not it will be realized.
Napoli will play an away match in the 33rd round of Serie A in the 2022-2023 season against Udinese at Stadio Friuli in Udinese, Italy at 3:45 am (Korean time) on the 5th.
Napoli recorded 25 wins, 4 draws and 3 losses in 32 matches this season, and is running as the sole leader of the league with 79 points. Currently, with 6 regular league games left, the difference between Lazio (61 points) in second place reaches 18 points.
First of all, Napoli can win the title early, on a non-match day. If second place Lazio fails to score three points in the match against Sassuolo at 4 am on the 4th, the championship is automatically confirmed. This is because even if Lazio wins all the remaining 5 games, they only have 76 points.
Even if Lazio wins against Sassuolo on the 4th, even if Napoli draws at least against Udinese on the 5th, the championship will be directly confirmed. However, in this case, it is like confirming the victory in an away game.
Already in Naples, the atmosphere of victory is wrapping the entire city. In fact, Napoli was trying to confirm the victory in the game held at home earlier. On the 30th of last month, Napoli drew 1-1 against Salernitana at Diego Armando Maradona Stadium in Naples, Italy in the 32nd round of the league home game.
If they had beaten Salernitana, they could have won the Scudetto (a shield-shaped pattern that the winning team of Serie A wears next season’s uniform), but with a bitter draw, their own championship was postponed to the next time. Still, preparations for the championship ceremony are in full swing locally. According to local reports, such as the Italian media Gazzetta dello Sport, fans who could not make it to the Udinese expedition are gathering together in downtown Naples and planning a group cheer. They will also gather at Naples’ home stadium, Stadio Diego Armando Maradona, to watch the match against Udinese through the electronic display board.
Although the victory celebration was not spectacular in the home game, in fact, Napoli’s Serie A victory is almost certain. If Napoli wins, it will taste the thrilling Serie A title 33 years after the 1989-1990 season, when the late Diego Maradona played.
Kim Min-jae also becomes a member of the glorious winning club. Kim Min-jae played for Fenerbahce (Turkiye) before joining Napoli ahead of this season and showed his best performance. He built a strong defensive line, starting 31 of 32 league games this season.
In addition, there is a growing possibility that Kim Min-jae’s Naples will hold a Korean tour this summer. With the winning trophy, attention is focused on whether Kim Min-jae will return in gold.
Italian media Calcio Napoli 24 quoted Corriere dello Sport on the 3rd, saying, “Napoli will immediately go on an overseas tour after finishing this season.” We will play a friendly match.”
“Naples will be the main character of the Korean tour in June,” he added. “However, Kim Min-jae may be busy carrying out basic military training during the Korean tour.”
If Napoli visits Korea, it is expected that they will be able to directly watch the matches of many European clubs this summer. Previously, Manchester City and Atletico Madrid will play in Korea, and Celtic will also face Wolverhampton in Korea. AS Roma will also play a friendly against Incheon United.