Will Kim Min-jae, who is meeting Spezia for the first time, block Eun Jol-do, who is fourth in scoring?

Napoli, to which Kim Min-jae belongs, is running at the forefront of Italian Serie A in 2022-2023. Now, after 20 games per team, Napoli has a whopping 53 points. They are 13 points behind second place Inter Milan. Looking at the goal difference alone, it is difficult to find weaknesses across the air and defense, with 48 points ranking first in the team’s highest score and 15 goals conceding also ranking first in the least.

While each team has played at least once, there is one team that Kim Min-jae has not played against in Serie A. It is the 17th place Spezia. Napoli and Spezia faced off in the 6th round on September 10, 2022 (Korean time). At the time, Min-jae Kim was absent for rest, but unfortunately, the match against Spezia remains the only game Min-jae Kim missed in Serie A this season.

Since the schedule is not tight after Napoli’s match against Spezia, Kim Min-jae, the key player in defense, is expected to start, unlike the last 6 rounds. Then, how strong is Spezia? Spezia has been showing unstable air defense balance by recording 17 points and 32 points in 20 games so far. Spezia’s 17 points is 18th out of 20 teams, and their 32 runs are tied for fourth most points. It can be seen as a relatively easy opponent for Kim Min-jae, who tied up world-class strikers Dybala and Abraham in the recent AS Roma match.

But that doesn’t mean being careless. This is because Spezia has an attacker that cannot be ignored. Spezia’s key striker is Mbala Nzola. Eunzola, an Angolan striker born in 1996, the same as Kim Min-jae, is a representative of Spezia. Nzola has scored 9 goals in 18 Serie A matches this season. The total number of goals for the Spezia team is 17, and more than half were scored by Nzola alone. In the Serie A scoring race, Nzola is ranked 4th behind prominent strikers such as Kim Min-jae’s colleague Osimen (14 goals), Atalanta Lukman (12 goals) and Inter Milan Martinez (11 goals). 스포츠토토

From Kim Min-jae’s point of view, blocking Eun-Jola is an absolutely important task. Eunzola missed the previous match against AS Roma and Bologna due to injury, but is expected to recover from the injury and return to the top through the match against Napoli. For reference, Nzola also scored a goal against Atalanta in the 16th round on January 4, contributing to the team’s 2-2 draw. For Atalanta, which is fiercely competing for the second place, it remains regrettable that they only won one point instead of three points.

An interesting point to watch in the match between Spezia and Napoli is whether Eunzola, who can be seen as more than half of Spezia’s power, can break through Kim Min-jae, who has risen to the top of Serie A at once from his debut season. Will Kim Min-jae, who is facing Spezia for the first time, be able to lead Napoli in the lead with his unchanging clean defense this time around? The 21st round match between the two teams will be held on February 5th at 8:30pm.