Victory prepared for intensity as they hunt Original Rivalry win

After being forced to settle for a 1-1 draw in this season's first, spiteful Original Rivalry meeting with Adelaide, Victory boss Tony Popovic knows another intense clash looms on Saturday.

Melbourne Victory’s first meeting with Adelaide United this season had a little bit of everything — a bevy of chances, cards, controversy, and animosity across its 90 minutes befitting an Original Rivalry clash. All it was missing was a winner, something that Victory boss Tony Popovic wants to put right when the two bitter rivals resume hostilities at AAMI Park on Saturday night. 

Despite creating a tide of scoring opportunities, wayward finishing and a standout performance from Adelaide shot-stopper Joe Gauci meant that Victory was only able to breach the Reds’ defences once in their round three meeting, via a first-half Bruno Fornaroli strike. They were subsequently made to pay for their profligacy when Hiroshi Ibusuki turned in a second-half free-kick to restore the game to the parity it would end on. 

The defining storyline coming out of the contest, however, quickly centred on the fiery late clashes between the two sides and the pair of red cards dished out by the referee Alex King: Roderick Miranda banished for yellow card accumulation in the 63rd and Nestory Irankunda receiving his marching orders after picking up a second caution seconds before full time. 

Irankunda earned his second yellow after reacting with anger to what appeared to be a clear non-call for a foul against him by Chris Ikonomidis and had his frustrations bubble over as he made his way down the tunnel – not helped by Victory defender Connor Chapman, who had kept him quiet all night, giving him some… not so friendly advice about where the tunnel was as he made his way off. 

The history and ill-feeling associated with the Original Rivalry being as it is, Chapman was crowned public enemy number by Reds fans almost as quickly as he was embraced by Victory fans. Debate raged about the need for Irankunda to simultaneously show more maturity on the field but also need more protection from referees (multiple things, as it turns out, can be true at once). 

Speaking ahead of Saturday’s re-match, however, a contest in which his side will seek to remain the league’s only unbeaten side, the Victory coach didn’t feel as though the heightened emotions of the previous encounter would bleed over — largely because this is a contest that’s legacy doesn’t need any help in bringing out the spiteful best in both teams. 

“Every game is big for Melbourne Victory,” said Popovic. “We understand that if you want to be the biggest club, that everyone lifts against us and we have to be able to handle that. 

“But this game is a little bit more special, which I've learned and experienced and enjoyed. 

“As round three was here, the intensity of the game, you feel the rivalry amongst the supporters, you feel it on the pitch, you feel it on the sideline. So we want to play our part in adhering to all of that and adding the three points that we didn't add in round three.

“We played 30 minutes with ten men and they had a player sent off with the last kick of the game. That's just part of the match itself. 

“If you put that to the side, we want to, we want to perform well, we want to play with the right intensity but also the quality that's required to win this game. And we know we have to defend well. So we need to put the whole package together.”

After being forced from the ground during last week’s 0-0 Christmas Derby with Melbourne City, Adama Traoré will miss the Reds’ visit as he observes the league’s concussion protocol, with Popovic expecting him to return for Victory’s trip to Perth in the new year. 

18-year-old Franco Lino and Stefan Nigro serve as potential like-for-like replacements at fullback with Chapman resuming hostilities with the Adelaide attack as another option. 

After coming off the bench against City last week in his return from injury, Velupillay shapes as a potential starter, likely in place of Ben Folami, in what will be Bruno Fornaroli’s final game for Victory before he departs for Asian Cup duty with the Socceroos. 

“We've got Chris [Ikonomidis] that can play up front,” Popovic said. “We've got young Eli [Adams]. Ben Folami has played there, albeit maybe more as a second striker. Nishan has played as a nine and a ten, we played Nishan [Velupillay] in the preseason as a nine. 

“So we're comfortable with the options we have. They're different types of players to Bruno and we'll deal with that after. The way we approach the front third will be a little bit different because the attributes will be different. But we believe we have the quality here.”

Sitting seventh on the A-League Men table, the Reds will head to Melbourne having snapped a three-game losing skid with a 3-1 win against Newcastle last week, during which they started with a new look that saw strikers Ibusuki and Luca Jovanovic starting up top together. 

“Ibusuki is a very good striker, strong in the air, and young Jovanovic runs off him very well,” said Popovic. “You can see the young boy is improving and evolving his game. 

“They played a little bit differently with some wingers that were more tucked in, but they reverted to their normal ways in the second half with the wingers out wide. 

“We understand that it could play either way and we just need to be prepared to understand what we need to do.”

Header Image Credit: Melbourne Victory