Melbourne Victory have qualified for a second successive A-League grand final, ending Auckland FC’s dream debut season with a 2-1 aggregate semi-final win.
Trailing 1-0 after last weekend’s first-leg in Melbourne, the Victory defied the odds in front of more than 29,000 Auckland fans at Go Media Stadium on Saturday with a 2-0 second-leg win.
Frenchman Zinedine Machach and veteran Socceroos marksman Bruno Fornaroli – recalled to the starting side at the expense of Greek striker Nikos Vergos – each scored second-half goals to give Victory the chance to make amends for the heartbreak of last season’s grand final.
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It means the A-League’s 20th season will conclude in unchartered territory after Melbourne City completed a 4-1 aggregate victory over Western United to set up a first-ever Melbourne Derby grand final.
City required little extra motivation to secure a shot at the championship following a 3-0 first-leg success, but watching arch rival Melbourne Victory clinch a surprise comeback win over premier’s Auckland FC earlier in the day presented a dangling carrot they simply had to grab.At AAMI Park — the stage for the grand final on Saturday 31 May — City started ruthlessly, opening the scoring before Western had even recorded a touch in the opposite penalty box.
Yonatan Cohen, attempting to mirror his special strike from the week previous, was foiled by Matthew Sutton’s flying save, but captain Aziz Behich had joined the attack and volleyed home the rebound from close in to end United’s fanciful hopes of progression with 20 minutes played.
And if anybody sporting green and black remained positive, their optimism would have doubtless started draining after Noah Botic – arriving onto the spillage from Riku Danzaki’s shot, which struck the post – was spectacularly denied at point-blank range by Patrick Beach before the goalkeeper recovered his position to hold Michael Ruhs’ follow-up header under his crossbar as half time approached.
They did, however, have something to cheer midway through the second period when Noah Botic prodded home his 16th goal of the season to tie the second leg.
Melbourne City will meet the Victory, who were beaten 3-1 in extra-time by Central Coast in last year’s grand final after leading 1-0 until the dying stages of normal time.
“It’s a big club and they (Victory fans) have big expectations,” said Melbourne Victory coach Arthur Diles, who was an assistant coach when the Victory lost last season’s grand final 3-1 in extra-time to Central Coast.
“We’ve got to be in these matches. That’s the role of Melbourne Victory. We’re expected to be there come the end of the season.
“That’s the club that we are. That’s the expectation the club has … and we’ve got to do our bit every day to work really hard to try to achieve that for our club.
“We’ve got one game to go, another grand final, which is great for the club and now we’ve got to work even harder.”
Despite his side trailing 1-0 after last Saturday’s semi-final first-leg at AAMI Park and the Victory not having scored in three previous games against the Black Knights this season, Diles said he had been “confident” all week.
“Maybe it sounds crazy, but … I told the boys before the game how confident I was. I just had this belief,” he said.
“We were coming here, we hadn’t scored a goal against them in three games, we hadn’t beaten them in three games, but I still had this belief in them that I knew we could do this.
“Coming here in front of almost 30,000 fans, we wanted to silence them. That was our goal and objective, and we did that.”
Victory captain Roderick Miranda said it was a “really special” win against the premiers.
“A lot of people … they wrote us off,” Miranda told Sky Sport New Zealand.
“We’ve been through ups and downs … (but) we showed that we are here against a really tough team to beat.
“Commiserations to Auckland. They were the best team during the season.”
However, the Victory will probably need to win the decider without the services of Socceroos attacker Nishan Velupillay, who suffered a seemingly serious lower leg injury late in the first-half on Saturday.
Despite Velupillay’s second-half absence, the Victory weren’t to be denied, with Machach giving the visitors the second-leg with a 55th-minute shot that deflected off Auckland defender Nando Pijnaker on its way past wrong-footed goalkeeper Alex Paulsen.
It was the Victory’s first goal in four matches against the Black Knights this season.
Five minutes later, Fornaroli put the Victory 2-0 ahead on the day and 2-1 on aggregate with a composed finish after being fed by the superb Jordi Valadon.
Auckland had the ball in the back of the net soon after through Logan Rogerson but elation soon turned to despair, with the cross that led to Rogerson’s header ruled to have crossed the by-line before floating back into play.
The hosts also had a stoppage-time chance to level scores 2-2 on aggregate after Victory goalkeeper Jack Duncan dropped a cross from substitute Callan Elliot.
Pijnaker was first to the loose ball, but his goal-bound shot was cleared to safety by Victory defender Josh Rawlins.
Tempers erupted in the 43rd minute after a heavy challenge from Machach on Auckland winger Marlee Francois.
Auckland goalkeeper Paulsen ran from his penalty area to get in the face of Machach, leading to a melee involving a host of players from both teams.
Referee Alex King was eventually able to defuse the situation, with Paulsen booked for inciting the matter.
As for Melbourne City, it now faces its biggest challenge – crossing the line.
Running the course has not been problematic for City in recent seasons, who have ended five of the last six years in the top two, but going the distance has proven a sticking point.
Only in 2021 did they make good on their regular season promise, beating Sydney FC 3-1 in the grand final.
And winless against Victory since April 2023, they will have to push against the weight of recent history.
Western United’s comprehensive semi-final defeat is small fry compared to the off-field troubles threatening to engulf the club.
On Thursday, Professional Footballers Australia issued breach notices from players who were owed unpaid wages – which arrived on Friday – and superannuation.
Build-up for Western’s elimination final with Adelaide United earlier in May was dominated by news of a FIFA-imposed transfer embargo, owing to a dispute with ex-player Aleksandar Prijović, and KAM Melbourne purchasing a controlling stake in the club for a reported $100 million.
The takeover remains subject to approval and regulatory processes, which will fail to quieten uncertain mood music surrounding the future of out-of-contract boss John Aloisi, who was tipped for future success by Ange Postecoglou in the wake of Tottenham Hotspur’s Europa League triumph.
— NCA Newswire
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