Kim Min-jae, the "iron pillar" of South Korea's national football team, played the full 90 minutes as his club Bayern Munich clinched the German Bundesliga title with four matches to spare.
Bayern defeated Stuttgart 4-2 in a come-from-behind victory in the 30th round of the 2024-2025 Bundesliga at Allianz Arena in Munich on Saturday.
A draw would have been enough to secure the title, but Bayern delivered a dominant attacking performance with four goals. The win lifted Bayern to 79 points, extending their lead over second-placed Borussia Dortmund (64 points) to 15.
With four matches remaining in the regular season, Bayern have secured their 35th league title and second consecutive championship regardless of the results of their remaining fixtures.
Bayern also remain alive in the DFB-Pokal semifinals and the UEFA Champions League semifinals, keeping a treble within reach.
Kim Min-jae, who started and played the full match, has now won the Bundesliga in two consecutive seasons. Combined with his title with Napoli in Italy's Serie A in the 2022-2023 season, Kim has now lifted his third major European league trophy. He becomes the second Korean player to achieve this feat, following Park Ji-sung, who won the English Premier League four times with Manchester United.
Bayern fell behind in the 21st minute but equalized through Raphael Guerreiro in the 31st minute. Two minutes later, Josip Stanisic put Bayern ahead to turn the match around.
Bayern then unleashed a ferocious attack, with Alphonso Davies scoring the eventual match-winner in the 37th minute, netting three goals in just six minutes.
Bayern brought on striker Harry Kane at the start of the second half to bolster their attack. In the 52nd minute, following a right-side corner kick, Leon Goretzka's left-footed shot rebounded off the goalkeeper amid a goalmouth scramble, and Kane tapped it in for the team's fourth goal. It was Kane's 32nd league goal of the season.
Bayern conceded again in the 88th minute but held on for a 4-2 victory.
