City Insider - Grand Final - 27 June 2021

CITY INSIDER

GRAND FINAL MELBOURNE CITY FC vs SYDNEY FC SUNDAY 27 JUNE, 2021 KICK-OFF 5.05 PM

MELBOURNE CITY v SYDNEY FC

CITY INSIDER SUNDAY 27 JUNE

CAPTAIN’S MESSAGE SIX MONTHS, 27 MATCHES, PLENTY OF GOALS, HIGHLIGHTS AND UNFORGETTABLE MEMORIES ALONG THE WAY, AND IT ALL COMES DOWN TO THIS CITY FANS. We’ve already taken out the Premiers Plate but we are absolutely desperate to ensure the Championship is also added to our trophy cabinet tonight.

If a Grand Final wasn’t big enough, this will also be the first time we get to play in front of you, our home fans, in over a month.

It was an extremely unfortunate situation last week that saw APL decide to move our home semi-final to New South Wales, but I couldn’t be prouder of the way the boys dealt with it all and responded.

We took the motto of ‘Anyone, anywhere, anytime’ into that fixture and not only did the boys talk the talk, they walked the walked the walk too. While it was a massive result for us, we quickly moved on and shifted our focus to tonight.

A big thank you to all who travelled up for the match, and those who attended the Club’s live watch party, from the pictures I saw, it looked like a great event.

It was a massive boost when we found out during the week that we’d rightfully be playing the Grand Final at AAMI Park, and having close to 15,000 City fans there will be even better.

Our last proper home match was the night we sealed the Premiers Plate and you were all unbelievable that night and provided an amazing atmosphere.

We hope to see that go to another level again this evening as it will give us a massive boost in getting over the line.

The boys have been looking sharp on the training pitch this week and we are absolutely primed and ready to go. It’s been a crazy season but these are the nights you play for, everything is on the line and the boys can’t wait.

We look forward to seeing and hearing you all in the stands tonight. We’ll be doing everything we can to make sure the night ends in the same way our last true home match did – us lifting silverware in front of you all!

C’mon City!

Scott Jamieson Melbourne City FC captain

Together We Move

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MELBOURNE CITY v SYDNEY FC

CITY INSIDER SUNDAY 27 JUNE

HISTORY IN THE MAKING REDEMTION ON HOME TURF IS WELL AND TRULY ON THE LINE TODAY AS MELBOURNE CITY FACE SYDNEY FC IN THE FINAL MATCH OF ANOTHER ROLLERCOASTER 2020/21 A-LEAGUE SEASON. Heading into the blockbuster event, City we’ll be buoyed by our recent semi-final win over Macarthur FC, overcoming poor recent form, an unfamiliar ‘home’ venue and injuries to star players to emerge 2-0 winners.

Following a tense first half in which Nuno Reis was forced into a crucial goal-saving intervention to keep the scores level heading into the break, the home side finally found the breakthrough in the 54th minute when Marco Tilio teed up Stefan Colakovski at point-blank range, before the roles were reversed just a minute later for City’s second.

It was a fantastic performance from the team’s youngsters, who also lined up alongside Nathaniel

Atkinson to round out the front three in the absence of Craig Noone, who pulled up short in the warm-up.

City were also without Andrew Nabbout, who wasn’t named in the matchday squad after not quite getting up for the fixture, with these absences only serving to further exemplify how well Colakovski and Tilio stood up on the night.

With Noone and Nabbout not guaranteed to make full recoveries in time to start the Grand Final, City will once again need its youngsters to shine on the big stage when the team faces off against Sydney FC later today.

Following a strong second half of the season, Sydney swept aside

Adelaide United with relative comfort in the first semi-final of last weekend, securing a 2-1 win thanks to first-half goals from Adam Le Fondre and Bobo.

Whilst Sydney couldn’t prevent their opposition from earning the greater share of possession and shooting opportunities on the night, they were able to mitigate the number of high-quality chances afforded to Adelaide, whilst creating great opportunities for themselves up the other end.

Mid-season returnees Le Fondre and Bobo have proven pivotal to Sydney FC’s turnaround in form, with the experienced front men posting the league’s second and third best goals-per-game ratios of 0.91 and 0.65 respectively.

DANGER PLAYER

SEASON STATS - SYDNEY FC

A-LEAGUE PREVIEW

ADAM LE FONDRE Sydney FC’s second half of the season has seen them bring in two of the most talismanic strikers in their history with Brasilian Bobo and of course, Adam Le Fondre.

Le Fondre returned to the Harbour City after a stint with fellow CFG club Mumbai City FC, taking out the club’s first Championship with the Indian outfit.

Since his return, the striker has shown what Steve Corica’s men were missing earlier in the season, finding the form that saw him become one of the formidable strikers in the league, second only in the 2019/20 Golden Boot race to Jamie Maclaren.

2

13

LEAGUE POSITION

GAMES WON

39

23

GOALS SCORED

GOALS CONCEDED

A-LEAGUE LADDER

LAST RESULT

LAST TIME WE MET

SYDNEY FC

2

SYDNEY FC

1

ADELAIDE

1

MELBOURNE CITY

1

A-League 2020/21 - Semi Final Saturday 19 June, 2021 Jubilee Stadium

VIDEO HIGLIGHTS

A-League 2019/20 - Match Week 16 Friday 10 April, 2021 Leichhardt Oval

VIDEO HIGLIGHTS

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MELBOURNE CITY v SYDNEY FC

CITY INSIDER SUNDAY 27 JUNE

THE SEASON AS IT STANDS FOR THE SECOND YEAR RUNNING, MELBOURNE CITY AND SYDNEY FC HAVE AGAIN OUTCLASSED ALL OTHERS TO PROVE THEMSELVES THE A-LEAGUE’S PREMIER OUTFITS. , a handful of weeks into the 2020/21 campaign, there would have been very few fans who’d have foreseen a secondconsecutive appearance in the season’s showpiece fixture for City, with the side at one point languishing in 9th place on a three-game losing streak.

City’s season began on a positive note back in late December, with a superb Connor Metcalfe curler proving the difference away from home against Brisbane Roar.

Our positive start quickly turned sour, as the team succumbed to a 2-0 defeat away to Adelaide United, with Scott Jamieson’s 65thminute sending off – our second in two weeks at that point – leading directly to the opening goal in a disheartening moment for fans.

The team would recover the following week against Western United, with Jamie Maclaren scoring his first goal of the season on the way to a 2-1 win, but this was only a brief respite.

A disappointing loss at home to Perth came first, before away losses to Central Coast and Newcastle had us at the low point of our season with injuries also piling up.

To say that our 3-2 win at home to Sydney FC turned our season around is no understatement, with

the team turning that inspiring performance into true momentum with an away win over Western Sydney, before our true watershed moment arrived the following week in the Melbourne Derby.

Those in attendance at Marvel Stadium that night witnessed one of the most incredible results in A-League history, with City putting six past our crosstown rivals on an unforgettable night capped off with a maiden senior goal for Stefan Colakovski. The story of City’s season really began here.

Over the ensuing weeks, City would continue to set Club records – longest winning streak, longest undefeated streak, longest winning streak at home; we could go on – all the while racking up points, with wins against Macarthur, Central Coast and Western Sydney.

A shock 2-1 ‘away’ loss at AAMI Park to Western United could have been the moment to halt our momentum, but City continued to find a way, with Marco Tilio popping up late to score the winner against Wellington the very next week.

Hard-fought 1-1 draws with Finalsbound Sydney FC and Macarthur were separated by another astronomical Derby result, this time to the tune of 7-0, with a

certain #9 popping up to score a casual five goals, becoming only the second player to do so in A-League history.

With silverware in sight, the City boys took the Premiership race by the scruff of the neck at a point in time where other contenders were failing to do so, the squad again enjoying a lengthy unbeaten run against Newcastle, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide.

A congested schedule resulted in a heavily rotated squad and subsequent 2-2 draw with Wellington, but City wouldn’t be denied, with the point at home proving to be enough to set up a dream ‘Plate Day’ encounter with 2nd-placed Central Coast where a win would mathematically seal the Premiership.

With the fiercely-contested clash still deadlocked in the 59th minute, up stepped Craig Noone to bury his decisive header for the winning goal, with City fans in raptures when the final whistle was blown to signal our Premiership success.

Our first-place finish set up a massive Semi Final clash with Macarthur FC, with young guns Colakovski and Tilio shining to lead City to the big dance for the second season in a row. The next chapter of the story will be written tonight.

MATCH SQUADS

HEAD COACH: PATRICK KISNORBO

A-LEAGUE

1. TOM GLOVER

2. SCOTT GALLOWAY

3. SCOTT JAMIESON

4. NUNO REIS

5. DANIEL GEORGIEVSKI

7. ROSTYN GRIFFITHS

8. AIDEN O’NEILL

9. JAMIE MACLAREN

10. FLORIN BERENGUER

11. CRAIG NOONE

13. NATHANIEL ATKINSON

14. NAOKI TSUBAKI

15. ANDREW NABBOUT

16. TARAS GOMULKA

17. STEFAN COLACOVSKI

18. CONNOR METCALFE

19. BEN GARUCCIO

20. ADRIAN LUNA

22. CURTIS GOOD

23. MARCO TILIO

33. MATT SUTTON

35. RAPHAEL BORGES RODRIGUES

36. KERRIN STOKES

38. JORDAN BOS

42. AHMED TALEB

1 20

ANDREW REDMAYNE THOMAS HEWARD-BELLE

2 3 4 6 7 16 21 23

PATRICK FLOTTMANN BEN WARLAND ALEX WILKINSON RYAN MCGOWAN MICHAEL ZULLO JOEL KING HARRY VAN DER SAAG RHYAN GRANT

5 8 10 17 19 26 28

ALEXANDER BAUMJOHANN PAULO RETRE MILOS NINKOVIC ANTHONY CACERES CHRIS ZUVELA LUKE BRATTAN CALEM NIEUWENHOF

9 11 12 13 18 33 99

BOBO KOSTA BARBAROUSES TRENT BUHAGIAR JORDAN SWIBEL LUKE IVANOVIC PATRICK WOOD ADAM LE FONDRE

HEAD COACH: STEVE CORICA

SYDNEY FC

MELBOURNE CITY v SYDNEY FC

CITY INSIDER SUNDAY 27 JUNE

CITY NPL GO DOWN TO NUNAWADING MELBOURNE CITY SUFFERED A DISAPPOINTING HOME LOSS IN ROUND 13 OF NPL3 ACTION, GOING DOWN 0-1 TO NUNAWADING CITY. Petr Kratky made just the one change to his usual 4-3-3 lineup heading into the Round 13 clash, bringing Luke Oresti in for Alexander Menelaou in central midfield.

Matthew Grimaldi tried to get City off to a fast start when he struck at goal in the 5th, but the effort from the edge of the area required only a comfortable save from former A-League shotstopper Michael Theo.

Luke Oresti came close in the 19th, finding space at the edge of the area to launch an effort on goal, only to be thwarted by the upright with Theo appearing to have been otherwise beaten.

Just a few minutes later, former City man James Brown

would earn the best of Nunawading’s early opportunities, rising to meet the cross in from the right only for his goal-bound header to be fired into the back of a City defender, allowing Ahmad Taleb to claim the ball comfortably.

Both teams approached the game with an attacking intent that saw numerous solid chances for either side, but as the half wore on, it was Nunawading who would begin to get on top in the final few minutes.

First came an intelligent save from Taleb with his feet in the 43rd minute when Paul Kuol drove into the box and shot from a tight angle. Just a few minutes later, exVictory player Fahid Ben Khalfallah drove a low,

fizzing shot just narrowly wide of the upright to give City a late scare before the referee blew for half-time.

12 minutes into the second period, Taleb came up with a massive one-on-one save to deny Brown who was through on goal and tried to place his shot between the City keeper’s legs, but the ball took a vital deflection to trail wide of the post.

Nunawading exposed the City defence again in the 61st, with Zois Galanopoulos’ strike from inside the sixyard box incredibly denied by a sliding Matthew Grimaldi, who was able to extend a leg to make the crucial block.

City struck back with a great chance of their own in the 64th, with Charbel Shamoon

SEASON STATS - MELBOURNE CITY NPL

ONES TO WATCH

MAX CAPUTO A number of familiar NPL faces have featured for City throughout this A-League season, as the Club's academy continues to produce quality players.

One of these is 15-year-old striker Max Caputo who made his A-League debut earlier this month in our 1-1 Melbourne Derby draw behind closed doors at AAMI Park.

NPL REPORT

forcing a sharp diving save from Theo to tip the ball outside the post.

Brown was again fed through one-on-one against Taleb for the visitors, this time able to toe-poke past the oncoming keeper and into the back of the net.

The onslaught on City’s goal continued just minutes later, with Lee Gellis curling an effort narrowly wide of the post which would have really dampened the home side’s spirits.

While City were able to stem the tide in the latter stages, the team showed little sign of finding the back of the net themselves, with Nunawading able to hold on to their one-goal lead for the remainder of the encounter.

3

6

LEAGUE POSITION

GAMES WON

29

13

GOALS SCORED

GOALS CONCEDED

Caputo has so far this NPL season bagged nine goals and currently sits second in the Golden Boot race.

NPL 3 LADDER

LAST RESULT

NEXT MATCH

MELBOURNE CITY

0

NORTH SUNSHINE

NUNAWADING

1

MELBOURNE CITY

NPL 3 Victoria 2021 - Round 13 Saturday 26 June, 2021 Casey Fields

NPL 3 Victoria 2021 - Round 14 Saturday 3 July, 2021 KO: 3.00pm Larissa Reserve

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MELBOURNE CITY v SYDNEY FC

KID’S ZONE

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CITY INSIDER SUNDAY 27 JUNE

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