Melbourne City winger Marco Tilio was all smiles following Friday night’s 1-0 win over Wellington Phoenix, marking his return to goalscoring form and continuing his strong run of games since recovering from injury.
Tilio’s decisive goal came in the second half, as City capitalised on a turnover in the middle of the park before Andrea Kuen found Tilio who fired home the match-winner with a brilliant finish.
“I think so,” Tilio said when asked if his goal was opportunistic. “I just saw, I think it was a low turnover. Then the ball came across and I just yelled to Maxy [Caputo] because he was almost running backwards and I was coming through. I just put my foot through it and it went in, so really happy.”
The 23-year-old has enjoyed his role in attack under Head Coach Aurelio Vidmar, linking well with City’s fullbacks to create opportunities for his team.
“Yeah, I think first and foremost, our defence this whole year has been excellent. And first and foremost, as I said, defence is important. So I’ll do my defensive role, and in attack, I like to stay wide and try to isolate myself,” Tilio explained.
“Whether that’s the fullback inverting, Nate [Atkinson] was inverting a little bit for the skip ball for me to go 1v1, or vice versa. If the ball comes too high, I like to go inside and Nate can go high. I think I have a good relationship with the fullbacks, and we thrive in build-up play when we’re moving everywhere.”
Tilio’s return to consistent minutes has been a major positive for City, with the winger starting his third consecutive match after a frustrating run with injuries.
“For me, the biggest thing is obviously playing minutes, and that’s part of the reason why I stayed this year – to get consistent game time. It has been three games in a row now that I’ve been able to start, and I pulled through not too bad,” he said.
“It’s been 12 months since I’ve played three consecutive games, so I’m really happy I’ve got through. I just want to continue in this way, stay fit and healthy, and hopefully have a good rest of the season.”
With six of City’s final eight games at home, Tilio is confident the team can build momentum heading into the business end of the season.
“We’re strongest at home, and we like to say AAMI Park is a fortress for us,” he said.
“With all the boys coming back and obviously the last few weeks having a few of us return, I think in the back end of the season we can get the camaraderie together and get some game time coming into the finals. I think we’ll be a strong force.”
City return to AAMI Park this Friday night, hosting Macarthur at 7:35pm. Click here to secure your tickets.
