Izzo's game for the ages as Victory come back from the dead to dump City from title race

Paul Izzo had the game of his life as he saved one penalty in normal time and three in the shoot out to propel 10 man Melbourne Victory into the A-League semi finals

For Melbourne Victory and Melbourne City, any A-League season that ends before the semi-final stage is regarded as a failure. So when the Victorian rivals met in an elimination final at AAMI Park on Sunday evening fireworks were not merely predicted but expected.

And fireworks was exactly what the 21,358-strong crowd got in one of the most memorable A-League finals of all, in which an explosive first half preceded a dramatic finale to the second which ended with the scores locked at 1-1, ensuring extra time would be needed to separate these fierce rivals.

After a nailbiting 120 minutes plus in which the deadlock could not be broken it was a back-from-the-dead Victory who prevailed in a penalty shoot-out with their goalkeeper and man of the match Paul Izzo crowning a display for the ages by saving a remarkable three City spot kicks as the Sky Blues wilted under the pressure.

Those in attendance will long recall this game for the dramatic high points and controversy, the excellence of Izzo, the heroics of a Victory side that played for almost 90 minutes with ten men and the profligacy of a City team who only had themselves to blame for not wrapping the match up in regulation time - long before they too were reduced to 10 following the dismissal of Curtis Good with three minutes of extra time remaining.

For City, this was very much a lost opportunity, one which Aurelio Vidmar and his staff will rue in the interminably long off-season.

Victory boss Tony Popovic was ecstatic at the fight his team displayed and will be hoping that the against-the-odds triumph sets them up for a two-legged semi-final against Wellington Phoenix.

The tone for this game was set in the first half with City scoring once, missing a penalty and then Victory being reduced to 10 men eight minutes before the interval when their talismanic French midfielder Zinedine Machach lost his head and kicked out at the prone City winger Leo Natal.

Machach paid the ultimate price for his indiscipline when referee Alex King finally brought order to the ensuing melee by brandishing a red card, leaving his teammates a goal and a man down and giving them a mountain to climb for the rest of the game.

It was a summit that looked as though it would prove insurmountable until an 88th minute leveller by substitute Nishan Velupilay ensured the game went to extra time and gave them hope.

Before that Tony Popovic's team rarely looked like scaling the heights: they failed to muster a shot on target after Machach's dismissal and City only failed to increase their advantage because of profligate finishing or the acrobatics of Izzo.

Up to Machach's dismissal the game was evenly poised. City had largely been the better side after a bright early start by the team nominally hosting the game (Victory was the ''home '' side by dint of their higher regular season league position).

Daniel Arzani, a player of whom so much had been expected earlier in his career, seems to have found the right home at Victory and it was his skill and subtlety, combining with Machach, that gave Victory most of its best opportunities down the right-hand flank.

Arzani made his name at City - as had one of his high profile team-mates in Bruno Fornaroli - but he was determined to prove that sentiment would play no part in such a high-stakes game. After being played through by Machach he almost made an early breakthrough with a shot that Jamie Young in the City goal beat away. His guile on the ball then almost created another opportunity with a cross which Young did well to collect.

But from that point on the tempo of this game began to change and City - who had to produce a sustained run of late-season form to just sneak into the finals - began to exert themselves and it was Izzo, not Young, who became the key player in this game.

The Victory shot-stopper had almost gifted his opponents a chance in the opening seconds when playing his way out from the back, but any palpitations he had caused for his coach Tony Popovic, his team-mates and the navy blue bank of fans behind his goal in the North Terrace were more than compensated for in the rest of the match.

Izzo flung himself full length to deny Leo Natel, then made his most significant save to that point when he stopped Tolgay Arslan's penalty, awarded in the 17th minute when Victory defender Damien Da Silva handled as he went to ground trying to cut out Vicente Fernandez' cross. The goalkeeper did well to dive to his right and keep out the German's spot kick with a strong wrist to keep his side on level terms.

City got the penalty from a raid down its left flank, and that was proving its best route to goal as Izzo again had to work smartly to deny Mathew Leckie's shot. Arslan showed that the penalty miss had not affected his morale as he became an important fulcrum for City and atoned for that error when he became the creator of City's opening goal.

It was his corner from the right which Natel flicked on with a header to the far post where it was met by central defender Samuel Souprayen, who headed it back across goal to Izzo's left.

Arzani almost got his side back into the game shortly after with a mazy dribble that set up Machach for a shot which Steven Ugarkovic, City's makeshift right back, cleared off the line.

That was as good as it got for Victory as Machach's attack of the vapours seven minutes from the break left his team up against it. He and Natel were battling for the ball when the Brazilian went to ground, his opponent then petulantly kicking out as he sprawled on the pitch.

Both sets of players got involved in a push and shove and when the dust settled it was Victory's most influential midfielder who was trudging off after the card was flourished.

As might have been expected against ten men, City were able to find their rhythm and manage the game, with neither side creating many clear-cut chances. Izzo was pressed into service to keep out Arslan's 64th-minute shot but in truth, it was a routine save: his second save a minute later once again denied the German but it was far from routine as he had to stretch to keep the deficit down.

At this point, it seemed that City would surely add to their total and do the job comfortably. But they reckoned without Victory's resolution, grittiness, self-belief and sheer determination - exemplified by Izzo's they shall not pass mentality.

As if to add insult to injury, the goalkeeper even scored one of his side's penalties in a shoot-out that saw City wilt and crumble while Victory only grew in stature.