Report: Kim Min-jae played through injury for Bayern Munich

Can the Korean stalwart rest up over the winter break and stay fresh for the second half of the campaign?

Bayern Munich defender Kim Min-jae has been a locked-in starter this season under Vincent Kompany, teaming up with Dayot Upamecano to form an undisputed center-back pairing for the German Rekordmeister.

But for the Korean international, that has meant putting up with pain — for a long, long time.

“After the international matches in November, I checked the schedule — and there were still eight games to play,” Kim shared in recent comments captured by Tz (via @iMiaSanMia). “My thoughts at the time were: grit your teeth and get through it somehow. Now I want to recover well physically and mentally.”

The good news for Bayern? The next competitive match will now not be until a date with Gladbach on January 11. But Kim, who according to this report was dealing with knee pain and pushed through using painkillers, will have to hope that toughing it out does not mean a longer road to eventual recovery.

He would not be the first Bayern player in recent years to have burned himself out in the first half of the season — and the Bavarians can ill afford a blow to their center-back depth at the moment.