Melbourne City young gun Max Caputo was the match-winner on Friday night, netted his first professional brace in City’s 2-0 win over Macarthur at AAMI Park.
After a breakout campaign with the first team in the 2023/24 season, Caputo suffered a serious leg injury in pre-season, undergoing surgery in August last year to repair a syndesmosis injury and fractured fibula sustained in pre-season training.
Head Coach, Aurelio Vidmar, was full of praise for the 18-year-old following his return to the scoresheet.
“Really happy for Max… he had a pretty horrendous injury in the pre-season and he’s worked his butt off to get himself into pretty good shape,” Vidmar said.
“Max had a really bad injury as we know in pre-season and he’s done a heck of a lot of rehab to get himself back into pretty good shape. His first couple of weeks when he came back he was getting a little bit frustrated, because you’re never going to be as sharp and match fit as you are prior to the injury. But he worked his way through it.
“We said keep patient, keep trusting yourself, keep getting to the near post.”
His strong return is a testament to his work ethic and the hours he has put in behind closed doors, according to Vidmar.
“When I came here last season, we had him playing a little bit on the wing positions but he’s always (been) a classic nine,” Vidmar explained. “He uses his body well. In the time he’s been injured he hit the gym even harder, and you can see how he’s physically got so much bigger and stronger.”
“As you know, last year we went through that moment where Jamie [Maclaren] was struggling in front of goal, he was doing so well in training and we threw him in, and he did very well.
“We were going into this season with Max as our starting nine; unfortunately, he got injured and that set us back, so as I said, he’s done a great job to get himself back to good condition.
“He’s young, he’s keen, he’s enthusiastic, he works hard, he doesn’t shirk absolutely anything. He’s always in the gym, always doing extra work. I’d like to think he can finish off the season really, really strong and prepare himself for a really big year next year.”
It’s a short turnaround for City who take on Newcastle Jets in mid-week football on Wednesday night at AAMI Park.
