Melbourne City secured a home Quarter Final in the inaugural AFC Women’s Champions League after concluding the Group Stage with three wins from three matches.
Embarking on his first professional competition at the helm, Head Coach, Michael Matricciani, led his team to wins over Bam Khatoon, BGC Asian Scholars and Kaya, finishing top of Group B.
The Group Stage saw five new signings make their City debuts, with Mariana Speckmaier, Lourdes Bosch, Malena Mieres, Alexia Apostolakis and Emilia Murray all wearing the City jersey for the first time.
Facing hot and humid conditions in Bangkok, City kicked off the inaugural competition with a 2-1 win over Iranian side, Bam Khatoon.
Rhianna Pollicina wrote her name in the record books with the Club’s first ever goal in the competition, before Speckmaier double City’s advantage with her first goal for the team.
Match day two saw City record their first clean sheet, putting three past Asian Scholars to record another strong win. Speckmaier again found the back of the net alongside Tyla-Jay Vlajnic, as Bosch netted her first professional goal.
City rounded out the Group Stage with their biggest victory, defeating Kaya 4-0 and securing another clean sheet. Speckmaier and Bosch continued their impressive starts to life at City, scoring one and two goals respectively.
City skipper, Rebekah Stott, celebrated a history-making game with a goal to her name, as she became the first player in the Club’s history to play 100 games for the Women’s team.
Reflecting on the Group Stage, Matricciani said: “I think the preparation we had leading into the Group Stage was excellent. We trained extremely hard, and our conditioning and backroom staff have done an amazing job to prepare the players physically.
“I think the group bonding together over these last 10 days has been amazing and to finish this Group Stage with three wins is perfect for us to now go into our [A-Leagues] season.
Overall, we’re really pleased, there’s still a lot to improve on but we’re very happy with these last three games.
“I’m really excited to see where we can go with this tournament.”
