Melbourne City showed plenty of positive signs against strong opposition on Friday night, with Italian side Palermo FC ultimately proving too strong in a 2-0 win at the Sam Kerr Football Centre.
Playing for the Anglo-Palermitan Trophy in the first-ever meeting between the two City Football Group clubs, Aurelio Vidmar used two completely different XIs across the 90 minutes as preparations continued for the 2026/27 campaign.
A number of young City talents gained valuable experience against the Serie B outfit, while several new faces also took to the pitch for the first time at senior level.
Team News
Vidmar named an unchanged starting XI from our recent 3-0 Australia Cup Round of 32 win over Weston Bears FC.
City was without Aziz Behich, Mathew Leckie and new signing Matheus Rossetto, who all joined pre-season training for the first time this week, while our latest signing Awer Mabil is set to arrive in Melbourne next week.
Starting XI: 40. James NIEUWENHUIZEN (GK), 13. Nathaniel ATKINSON (C), 4. Liam BONETIG, 2. Harrison DELBRIDGE, 22. Peter ANTONIOU, 24. Kavian RAHMANI, 14. Besian KUTLESHI, 41. Lawrence WONG, 35. Medin MEMETI, 38. Beckham BAKER, 17. Max CAPUTO.
Substitutes: 1. Macklin FREKE (GK), 15. Andrew NABBOUT, 34. Jayden NECOVSKI, 36. Mathew BAKER, 37. Akeem GERALD, 39. Roland BALLAH, 43. Angus MACKINTOSH, 44. Isiah BOSTON, 47. Julian RECCHIA, 48. Dominic ARAVANIS, 77. Takeshi KANAMORI.
What happened?
City settled nicely into the contest, with Besian Kutleshi particularly influential in midfield throughout the early exchanges.
It was Palermo who struck first though, taking the lead in the 11th minute.
A quick transition and a fortunate deflection opened the door for Jérémy Le Douaron, who raced through on goal and calmly finished beyond an onrushing James Nieuwenhuizen.
City almost produced a quick response five minutes later.
Palermo’s goalkeeper was caught well outside his penalty area after we won possession back, allowing Lawrence Wong to take aim at the vacant net from distance. His effort looked destined to level the scores, only for the retreating Palermo defence to scramble back and head clear before the ball crossed the line.
Despite the early setback, we continued to look comfortable for long periods of the first half, producing some nice passages in possession while remaining organised defensively.
Harrison Delbridge was particularly impressive at the heart of the back four as we ensured there was no further damage before the break, heading into half-time trailing by the solitary goal.
Vidmar rang the changes at the interval, sending out an entirely new XI for the second half.
It provided a first taste of senior football for Dominic Aravanis, Jayden Necovski and Julian Recchia, while new signing Macklin Freke made his first appearance in City colours between the posts.
And the youthful City side almost made the perfect start.
Less than 30 seconds after the restart, Roland Ballah had the ball in the back of the net, only for the assistant referee’s flag to deny him for offside.
Palermo doubled its advantage in the 54th minute, finding the back of the net with a header from a corner, before Freke produced an excellent save just two minutes later to tip a long-range effort over the crossbar.
Far from dropping away, City’s young XI continued to compete impressively against the experienced Italian opposition.
One of our best opportunities of the night arrived in the 72nd minute when Ballah burst down the right and picked out Andrew Nabbout, whose effort forced a strong save from the Palermo goalkeeper.
Freke was called upon a few more times throughout the closing stages and looked assured in his first City appearance as Palermo searched for a third.
There would be no further addition to the scoreline, with the contest finishing 2-0 after a valuable 90-minute hitout for Vidmar’s squad.
What’s next?
Our attention now quickly turns back to competitive action and the Australia Cup.
City will be back on the road next week, travelling to Queensland to take on Lions FC in our Round of 16 clash on Tuesday night with a place in the Quarter Finals up for grabs.
