City, Victory and the Christmas Derby to-not-quite-remember

Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory were forced to settle for a 0-0 draw in their Christmas Derby meeting, in which a spirited contest threatened to turn into a memorable one but never quite could.

Perhaps the best way to describe Saturday evening’s traditional Christmas Derby was that there was a memorable contest just lurking underneath its surface, waiting for someone from Melbourne City or Melbourne Victory to do something momentous and release it upon the 25,884 fans in the stands. By the time full-time came on the 0-0 draw, though, nobody had.

Some exchanges stood on the precipice, but they ultimately proved fleeting; unfulfilled flashes of promises or even sparks of argy-bargy that would have seen the game open quickly fading into the background of a contest in which neither side could find an approach to separate themselves on the balance of play or the scoreboard. 

Tellingly, both Tony Popovic and Aurelio Vidmar believed their side had been the better of the two belligerents after the game’s conclusion – the former largely off the basis of an improved second half – and praised their defensive fortitude. In other words, there was no clear standout team and both attacks were largely blunted by the defences. 

In games such as these, it’s often one moment of magic that serves to break it open, a memory that doesn’t make the game itself a good one but ensures that, when looked upon in the years ahead, it is remembered in that way, regardless.

And this contest had that… until it didn’t. 

On this occasion, it was Jamie Maclaren who thought he’d written himself into further history, the City captain, who to that point had been largely peripheral, poking the ball into the back of the net and taking off at a sprint towards the eastern grandstand. 

Going from ineffectual to match winner in the blink of an eye in a manner only strikers can, the 30-year-old had the latest famous Christmas Derby moment, joining the likes of Matt Thomson, Archie Thompson, Erik Paartalu, and Mark Milligan as late Christmas Derby heroes. And in hindsight, it should have been obvious it was coming. 

A day after being left out of Graham Arnold’s squad for the Asian Cup, on the evening he had run out onto the pitch with his newborn daughter for the first time it was written in the stars. Football loves a narrative, and this one was staring you right in the face. 

Well, it was until a whistle pierced the AAMI Park sky. 

For as Maclaren celebrated on the touchline alongside Léo Natel, the rapturous celebrations from City’s side of the ground were melting away, replaced instead by gleeful merrymaking coming from the opposite, Victory-occupied grandstand. 

Referee Alireza Faghani wasn’t indicating that what surely would have been the winning goal had been scored with his arms, but that it was a Victory free kick. 

In attempting to get to the ball, Maclaren had taken hold of Leigh Broxham, dragging him down to the surface. It was a foul. The goal wouldn’t count. A Christmas ᴰᵉʳᵇʸ miracle denied.

On the replay, it looked like an accurate call. Maclaren has a clear hold of Broxham’s jersey (when will this ‘can I have your shirt?’ scourge end!) and there was a double action in his movement to bring the defender down. That was also the view of the Football Australia referee assessors at the game. 

"We were having that discussion whether that should have just been allowed and then checked from the VAR,” Vidmar observed post-game. 

“We thought there were probably worse tackles in the middle of the pitch which he let go. Don't get me wrong, he's a very good referee. There's a lot of harsher tackles that were let go and play continued and that one looked pretty soft."

Indeed, the roughness had been dished out liberally in the exchanges across the preceding 89 minutes, providing something of a talking point in a contest wherein there weren’t too many clear-cut chances competing with them for airtime. 

Tolgay Arslan drove forward and let loose with a long-range attempt in the fifth minute, only for it to be dragged off the target. Daniel Arzani cut inside from the right and sent in a low effort in the 29th, only for Jamie Young to easily claim the tamely hit shot, the first time he had been forced into action all evening. 

The second phase of a corner fell to Ryan Teague at the top of the box three minutes after the halftime break, allowing the midfielder to lace a powerfully hit, swerving strike in on goal that Young saw very late. Young, however, was up to the task of punching it away at the last.

Natel burst forward in the 73rd minute with fearsome intent and dragged the ball back and around Jason Geria and Paul Izzo, only to fall himself and allow the Victory keeper the time to recover and claim the ball. Just under ten minutes later, Steven Ugarkovic found space at the top of the box and lifted a shot over the bar. 

Natel then forced a strong save from Izzo moments after the disallowed goal, the last real chance of note. 

Between it all there was a simmering undercurrent of intensity and physicality, both sides propelled by the largest Melbourne Derby attendance at AAMI Park since 2016. 

Aziz Behich and Bruno Fornaroli, just a day prior named in the Socceroos squad for the Asian Cup, squared up just minutes in. The City left-back followed that later in the opening stanza by repeatedly squaring up to Zinédine Machach in an exchange that earned them both yellows. 

But these coming-togethers never progressed to the point of fireworks, much like the chances that were created across the 90. Fornaroli’s record-setting run that had seen him grab 12 goals in eight games may have gotten him a Socceroos’ berth, but he was kept largely quiet against his former club. 

City proved themselves adept at getting the ball into the final third but then couldn’t figure out how to properly unlock a resolute Victory defence when they got there. 

Thus, the 2023 Christmas Derby ended without anything that will mark it in the history books as being particularly notable. At least on the playing surface.

Ultimately, maybe given that last year’s iteration was abandoned after a violent pitch invasion by Vicotry’s supporters and this game being not only completed without incident but would do so with the largest crowd since 2016 is worthy of celebration. 

Try telling someone watching Victory fans spill onto the field a year ago that 12 months on there would be 25,884 in AAMI Park with nary a hint of crowd trouble – outside of one lone gobshite that was poleaxed by security after running onto the field after full time. In the context of it all, maybe that was the Christmas miracle.