TALE OF THE TAPE AND WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

90 minutes down and 90 minutes – at least – to go. Here’s a quick recap of what’s happened so far and what you can expect to see tonight!

Casting our minds back to the first leg in Sydney last week, we were forced to settle for a 1-1 draw after they equalised midway through the second half.

City started the contest strongly and a pinpoint cross from a Valon Berisha set piece found its way onto the head of Mathew Leckie, who smashed it into the back of the net in the 18th minute.

Despite Tom Glover producing a fantastic save from the penalty spot to deny Anthony Caceres, the penalty was deemed to be re-taken and eventually, Adam Le Fondre converted in the 64th minute.

Both teams had chances for the remainder of the night, including Sydney twice having goals ruled out for offside, but neither side could land a genuine blow, leaving the second leg set up perfectly.

It’s been a run of strong home form as we’re still yet to taste defeat in a home fixture at AAMI Park this season, filling the team with plenty of confidence going into tonight.

Should we finish tied – as we did last week - the game will go to extra time with two 15-minute periods to be played. The away goals rule isn’t in place, so there’s no need to worry about that.

If that half an hour isn’t enough to settle things, the game will go to penalties where City will look for the likes of Maclaren, Leckie, Nabbout and co. to step up from the spot.

While Adam Le Fondre was able to convert from the re-taken penalty after Glover’s initial save in the first leg, we have seen a shaky Sydney from the spot in recent times, having missed 7 out of 9 penalties this season.

We’ve seen Maclaren, our usual spot-kick expert, hand off a couple this season for mixed results.

Valon Berisha netted from the spot away to Perth, but Andrew Nabbout saw his effort against the Wanderers saved. That being said, there wasn’t much more he could’ve done, firing a powerful strike towards the bottom corner which forced a fantastic save out of Lawrence Thomas.

While we may have gotten used to our number 9 banging in penalties for fun in seasons past, the most famous penalty in club history belongs to a teammate who certainly won’t shy away from stepping up if the time comes.

We’re of course talking about captain Scott Jamieson, who scored from the spot at the same venue against the same opponent to put us ahead in the 2021 Grand Final.