The German media's "Kim Min-jae bias" has begun again.

Bayern Munich confirmed the early championship of the 2024-2025 Bundesliga season on the 5th (Korea time) as second-place Bayer Leverkusen, chasing them, drew 2-2 with Freiburg. Bayern, with 76 points, maintained the gap with Leverkusen, which remained at 68 points, thereby securing the championship regardless of the outcome of the remaining two matches.

Kim Min-jae's fighting spirit despite injury played a significant role in the victory. This season, Kim Min-jae has been dealing with an Achilles tendon injury for seven months but continued to play. He recorded the second-most playing time at Bayern. Kim Min-jae was also the defender with the most minutes played at Bayern. Kim Min-jae has a considerable equity in Bayern's victory.

However, the German media did not acknowledge Kim Min-jae's contributions and continued to criticize him unfairly. On the 6th, the German outlet "Sport" rated the overall season performances of Bayern Munich players. This media outlet gave Kim Min-jae a score of 4.5 and noted, "He performed stably at the beginning but has recently lost composure. Injuries and inconsistency have contributed to defensive instability."

A score closer to 1 on a scale of 1-5 indicates better performance. Kim Min-jae received nearly the worst evaluation. Dayot Upamecano, Eric Dier, and Josip Stanišić, who played fewer matches than Kim Min-jae, were rated much higher at 2.5.

Even Hiroki Ito, who hardly played due to injury and had almost no starting appearances, received a higher rating of 4.0 than Kim Min-jae. Kim Min-jae played 2,289 minutes in 27 Bundesliga matches.

Ito played only six matches this season, with just three starts. In those starts, he was substituted each time and did not complete full-time. He later sustained an injury and was sidelined for the remainder of the season. It’s comical that a player who hardly played can receive a higher evaluation than a player who displayed fighting spirit throughout the season.

Fans mostly expressed outrage, saying, "How can a player with overwhelmingly high playing time receive a lower rating?", "Is this racism?", "The German media is intentionally belittling Kim Min-jae, not just making a simple mistake."

Even the Japanese media supported this, stating, "Negative evaluations of Kim Min-jae have emerged from the local German media. The Korean media is reacting excessively sensitively," siding with Germany.

[OSEN]