Kim Min-jae scores for Bayern in Champions League win over Lee Kang-in's PSG
Kim Min-jae, football player of Bayern Munich, celebrates after scoring a goal against Paris Saint-Germain during a league phase match at the UEFA Champions League at Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany, Nov. 26. AFP-Yonhap
In a first UEFA Champions League showdown between Korean players in 13 years, Kim Min-jae of Bayern Munich scored his first continental goal against Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) featuring countryman Lee Kang-in.
The rare goal by the Korean center back proved to be the difference as Bayern held off PSG 1-0 at Allianz Arena in Munich on Tuesday (local time) during the league phase of the top European club competition.
With their second victory of the competition, to go along with two losses, Bayern improved to six points, good for 19th place among 36 contestants. PSG remained at four points with a win, a draw and two losses, leaving them in 25th place.
Starting this year, the European football body did away from the traditional group stage structure and instead has 36 teams play eight matches each against randomly drawn opponents.
They are all being ranked in a joint group. After eight matches, the top eight teams will receive a bye to the round of 16. Those ranked from ninth to 24th will end up in playoffs for the knockout phase, with the teams from ninth to 16th seeded for the draw. Clubs ranked from 25th to 36th will be eliminated.
Hosting PSG with Lee on the bench at the start, Kim headed home the match's lone goal in the 38th minute, following a corner.
Kim had played in 22 Champions League matches prior to Tuesday without once finding the back of the net.
Kim helped his side achieve the clean-sheet win with his typically reliable work in his own end. He was named the Player of the Match, with UEFA's Technical Observer Panel saying, "He decided the game with his goal and showed immense strength in his duels."
Bayern have now won seven consecutive matches in all competitions without conceding, their longest such streak since September 2011.
PSG played the final 40 or so minutes down a man after Ousmane Dembele was sent off on his second yellow card after a hard challenge on Alphonso Davies.
Lee came on for Warren Zaire-Emery in the 65th minute, PSG's first substitution of the contest, but he couldn't alter the outcome of the match.
It had been 13 years since Korean players last faced each other in a UEFA Champions League match. In 2011, Park Ji-sung and Manchester United were in Group C with Park Joo-ho and FC Basel. They ended in a 3-3 draw on Sept. 27 before Basel prevailed 2-1 on Dec. 7 to advance to the knockout stage and sent the Premier League outfit to the Europa League. (Yonhap)