‘Monster defender’ Kim Min-jae made his first official appearance in a Bayern Munich jersey in German professional soccer, but the Bavarians were unable to lift the trophy as they were defeated by Leipzig.

Kim started the second half of the 2023 German Football League (DFL) Super Cup match against RB Leipzig at the Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, on Wednesday (Sept. 13), replacing Matthias Düricht and played until the end of the game.

It was the official match debut of Kim Min-jae, who moved to Munich ahead of the season after a stellar career with Napoli in the Italian Serie A.

Kim, whose signing was announced on March 19, warmed up in preseason matches, starting with a friendly against Kawasaki Frontale (Japan) in Tokyo on March 29, and came on as a substitute in the team’s first official match of the season.

With Dayo Upamecano and Diricht’s starting center back combination, Munich faltered after conceding two goals to Leipzig in the first half, and brought on Kim in the second half to try and fight back, but fell short in a 0-3 defeat that cost them the Super Cup trophy.

In Munich, Harry Kane, who was benched as soon as his move from Tottenham Hotspur was finalized, made his official debut in the 18th minute of the second half after being replaced by starting striker Mathis Thiel, but he was not smiling.

Kane, who boasts of ‘great chemistry’ with Son Heung-min at Tottenham and will now play alongside Kim Min-jae, went straight from the announcement of his signing on Wednesday morning local time to the match later that night, but had to watch his team lose.

After more than a decade at Tottenham, where he broke all sorts of individual scoring records and was “irrelevant” to the team’s success, Kane came close to winning a trophy in his first game with the German “top-flight” club, but it didn’t happen this time.

The German Super Cup, which pits the Bundesliga winner from the previous season against the winner of the German Football Association Cup (DFB-Pokal), was played for the second year in a row between Munich and Leipzig.

Munich won their 11th consecutive Bundesliga title last season, while Leipzig won the Pokal in 2021-2022 and 2022-2023.

In last year’s Supercup, Munich won 5-3 to claim the title for the third year in a row and a first-ever 10 titles, but this year Leipzig came out on top for the first time.

Leipzig’s Dani Olmo was the star of the show, responsible for all three of his team’s goals.

He opened the scoring just three minutes into the match after a cross from the left flank was lost in the shuffle, and Olmo headed home with his right foot from the left side of the goal area to give Leipzig the lead, before adding another in the 44th minute.

Munich looked to reorganize their defense at the start of the second half, replacing Derrikht with Kim Min-jae and starting right-back Benjamin Pavard with Noussaïr Mazroui, but a penalty kick in the 23rd minute for a handball foul on Mazroui gave Olmo another goal.

In the 25th minute, Leipzig’s Benjamin Sheshko broke into the penalty area and had the perfect opportunity to score after beating the keeper, but Kim Min-jae made a neat tackle to prevent further damage.

According to soccer stats site Footmob, Kim has a 6.5 rating, the fifth highest of any Munich player, while Kane has a 6.0 rating.

Among Munich players, Jermain Defoe and Alfonso Davies have the highest ratings of 7.2, while Olmo tops both teams with 9.7. 토토