Melbourne City FC will play its final match of the AFC Champions League Group Stage when it takes on United City FC in the early hours of Sunday morning (AEST).
Melbourne City comes into this fixture following back-to-back draws, most recently playing out a hard-fought stalemate with Thailand’s BG Pathum United.
You can watch our clash against United City live via 10play or Paramount+.
Although undefeated, City is still at risk of not making it through to the knockout stages with its fate outside of its own hands heading into Matchday 6.
The clearest scenarios for City to qualify are; as the top team in Group G should BG Pathum lose to Jeonnam Dragons, but given a comfortable 2-0 win to the Thai side last time the teams met, the more likely route appears to be qualifying as one of the three top ranked second placed sides in the East conference. For this to happen, City would need Vissel Kobe to win against Hong Kong’s Kitchee SC on Sunday night.
Although City’s clash against United City may ultimately be nothing more than a dead rubber depending on how the earlier kick-off in Group G on Saturday night goes, Head Coach Patrick Kisnorbo will certainly be hoping to see his team return to winning ways.
While City fought valiantly and created enough chances to score, it couldn’t find the back of the net in the mid-week clash against BG Pathum that ended 0-0.
Fans will be eagerly anticipating the starting line-up on Saturday night and there certainly could be a few surprises. The short turnarounds and tough conditions of course remain, but another interesting factor is that the starting XI virtually played the whole of Wednesday night’s fixture, with a pair of substitutions not coming until injury time.
Following this clash, City returns to A-League Men action where it is deep in the Premiers Plate race with two fixtures to play, so there could be a chance for even more rotation than we’ve already seen throughout the ACL Group Stage.
This was the case when Melbourne and United City met for the first time back on Matchday 2, with the likes of Jamie Maclaren, Curtis Good, Andrew Nabbout and Carl Jenkinson all moving to the bench.
A Stefan Colakovski goal and second half Marco Tilio brace saw City run away comfortable 3-0 winners on that night, with the likes of Raphael Borges Rodrigues and Tsubasa Endoh also putting in strong performances.
United City still sits winless at the bottom of the Group G table, having only found the back of the net once in its first five matches. Most recently it suffered a 2-0 defeat to Jeonnam Dragons, also losing stirker Kieran Hayes to a red card in the process who will miss Saturday’s clash as a result.
Match Details
AFC Champions League: Group Stage Matchday 6
United City FC v Melbourne City FC
Sunday 1 May, 12:00am kick-off (AEST)
Pathum Thani Stadium
Live on 10play and Paramount+
