Napoli trounce Verona as Kim Min-jae gets first taste of Serie A

Napoli stormed to a 5-2 win over Hellas Verona in their opening game of the 2022-23 Serie A season at Marcantonio Bentegodi in Verona, Italy on Monday, with Kim Min-jae playing the full 90 minutes in his debut league appearance for the club.

Napoli's Kim Min-jae, right, and Hellas Verona's Kevin Lasagna in action during an Italian Serie A match in Verona, Italy, on Monday. [EPA/YONHAP]

Napoli stormed to a 5-2 win over Hellas Verona in their opening game of the 2022-23 Serie A season at Marcantonio Bentegodi in Verona, Italy on Monday, with Kim Min-jae playing the full 90 minutes in his debut league appearance for the club.

Kim looked confident in his first start, appearing alongside Giovanni Di Lorenzo, Amir Rrahmani and Mario Rui in what is shaping up to be a strong starting back four for the Italian club. Kim took a yellow card for a late challenge in injury time at the end of the second half, but otherwise enjoyed a fairly promising start to this Serie A career.

Verona drew first blood, with Kevin Lasagna knocking one in for the home side in the 29th minute. Napoli's Khvicha Kvaratskhelia immediately responded with a goal of his own in the 37th minute, with Victor Osimhen adding one more in injury time to end the half with the visitors up 2-1.

Verona were fastest off the mark again in the second half, finding the back of the net in the 48th minute, before Napoli responded with a rapid run of goals — Piotr Zieliński in the 55th minute, Stanislav Lobotka in the 65th minute and Matteo Politano in the 79th minute — to take the game.

"We prepared well for this game over the last week and the lads deserve credit for putting our plans into practice as well as they did,” manager Luciano Spalletti said after the game. "We played with real character and determination to get off to the best possible start. One thing we need to do is up the tempo when we have the ball to make our dominance count, but the whole team was superb.”

Kim joined Napoli last month from Turkish club Fenerbahce after one year playing in the Super Lig. According to reports, Kim is under contract with Napoli until 2025, with the club retaining the option to extend the deal for two more years. Napoli paid 19.5 million euros ($20 million) to Fenerbahce to trigger Kim’s release clause, and have included a 45-million-euro release clause in his new contract.

Kim's Serie A debut on Monday made him only the third Korean ever to play in the Italian league. Neither of his predecessors — Ahn Jung-hwan and Lee Seung-woo — had especially successful careers there.

Ahn played 30 games for Perugia in the early 2000s, but his career there was sabotaged when he scored the goal that knocked Italy out of the 2002 World Cup, while Lee made 14 appearances for Verona in the 2017-18 season, before the club was relegated out of Serie A and he was eventually relegated out of European football, returning to Korea last year without a contract.

Kim's arrival in Napoli ended a long transfer saga that saw him linked to clubs in Italy, France, Portugal and England.

Napoli will play their next Serie A game against Monza at Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in Naples on Sunday.

BY JIM BULLEY [jim.bulley@joongang.co.kr]