Melbourne Derby, Big Blue to rock AAMI Park on bumper Saturday
Between an ALW Melbourne Derby semifinal and an ALM Big Blue elimination final, Saturday’s spectacle at AAMI Park could be one of the A-League’s biggest in years - especially for Melbourne Victory.
With its Melbourne Derby semifinal in the A-League Women and Big Blue elimination final in the A-League Men, Saturday at AAMI Park could prove one of the biggest and best days in Melbourne Victory’s recent history. Or one of its worst.
Defeating Canberra United after a long, international-break-enforced layoff, Victory’s women secured yet another trip to the final four of the women’s top flight this week, now set to host City in the first leg of their two-legged affair in the earlier kickoff on Saturday afternoon.
Well established as two of the league’s best programs – Victory can level Brisbane and Canberra on five trophies with a title in this year’s playoffs – it’s the first playoff meeting between the two since Victory’s penalty shootout win at Casey Fields in the 2022-23 semifinal, in which Casey Dumont’s heroics capped off one of the best individual games in league history.
“These games are always big games,” said coach Jeff Hopkins, who has qualified for more than 50% of the A-League Women’s grand finals while coaching in it. “Looking at our game, games against City are always something special for us. I’m sure the same goes for them as well.
“We’re really looking forward to the game coming, really. We had to wait three weeks for Canberra, but this weekend seems to have come around very, really quickly. The girls have enjoyed the week, they’re looking forward to a game and the challenge that comes with playing this Melbourne City side.”
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Saturday’s subsequent kickoff will see Arthur Diles’ men face perennial rivals Sydney FC in an all-or-nothing elimination final, with the winner moving on to face either the Newcastle Jets or Adelaide United in a two-legged semifinal the following week.
It will be the ninth meeting between the two hated foes in the playoffs, with both sides coming into the clash with three previous finals wins and a draw back in the second-leg of their 2010 semifinal.
The last knockout meeting between the two isn’t one that Victory fans will look back on with any kind of fondness, though: Kevin Muscat’s historically successful tenure as coach ended when the Sky Blues put six past the Victorians on the way to a thumping win at Jubilee Oval, with only Ola Toivonen’s 91st-minute consolation ensuring the Melburnians weren’t completely blanked.
“I’d like to think so,” Diles said of it being one of the biggest days for the club in recent years. “And I’d like to think that that puts even more bums on seats. Because, yes, you’ve got our game, which will be a fantastic spectacle. And then you got the women playing before us in a double-header, which they deserve to see that place full as well.
“We’re looking forward to a fantastic crowd for both games. And yeah, we’re looking forward to having a great weekend for Melbourne Victory.”
Beyond the spice that always accompanies a Big Blue, Saturday carries an extra level of venom for the Victory faithful in representing not just the first time that Patrick Kisnorbo will return to AAMI Park since his shock departure on the eve of the 2024 Christmas Derby, but that he’s doing so while serving as interim Sydney boss.
Victory’s players, however, have consistently played down any notion that a reunion with the coach helps add to their motivation, insisting that it was a narrative for the press and social media. And Diles, who was elevated from his assistant role to the main chair when Kisnorbo departed, struck a similar tone.
“If we have to use that motivation as a squad, then something’s wrong for me,” he said. “Maybe that’s a better conversation for fans. You should ask fans that question. But in terms of the playing group and the coaching staff, his name hasn’t even come up.
“I’m not privy to conversations in change rooms. That’s a separate conversation, if that’s been had, that’s for the players to talk about. In the end, that was a long time ago. We’ve moved forward from that.
“Yes, I know it adds a bit of juice for this game and a bit of spite, but yeah, he’s someone that we’re friends with, and he’s a good guy. He’s a good coach. He’s got to worry about his team. I’m going to worry about my team, and may the best team win tomorrow.”
Saturday’s Melbourne Derby, meanwhile, also offers up a few chances at reunions, with Victory standout Rhianna Pollicina clashing with her former side for the first time in a finals context in the game.
After two meetings with her one-time employers during the regular season, however, the novelty isn’t quite at the same level for the diminutive attacker, who highlighted the opportunity of City not playing a game in a month due to the international break leading into a finals bye.
“We know they’re a quality side. They’re top of the table for a reason, and we’ve got to respect that,” she said. “Congratulations to them on winning another premiership. They’ve got quality all over the park, so we know we have to bring our A-game.
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“We know we have to start the game well; they haven’t played in a few weeks, so maybe in the first 20 minutes, we can get on top of the game and show that we’re ready to battle that out and get the victory. Obviously, going into that halftime and trying to have the upper edge, that’s definitely the game plan.
“But yeah, we just got to respect that they want to be playing with the ball, and they’re good with the ball, but yeah, we know that we can hurt them in ways that we showcased last week as well.”
Nonetheless, with an Asian Champions League campaign semifinal also awaiting them, City hasn’t been sitting around doing nothing during the international break, even if a bevy of senior and junior international call-ups further disrupted their training.
Michael Matricciani’s side played multiple games against City’s boys’ academy teams during their layoff – including one last week which mirrored an extra-time clash, and Matildas’ midfielder Leah Davidson was confident they would be adequately prepared.
“We’ve had four weeks now without a game, and it feels like forever,” she said. “But we’ve kept fit, we’ve kept the energy high, and we’ve played some practice matches against boys, and we’ve worked on things that we needed to work on.
“So I think this period has actually been really nice, and we’re coming into this game really confident, so it’s been really good, but everyone’s definitely ready to play a competitive match.”