Melbourne City captain Aziz Behich says his team is ready for the challenge as his side take on Western United in the first leg of their Semi-Final on Friday night.
City will take on their cross-town rivals in the first of two Semi-Final legs at AAMI Park on Friday, before hosting the second leg at the same venue next Saturday 24 May.
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Read the captain’s pre-match thoughts below…
ON THE CHALLENGE THAT AWAITS…
“We haven’t really thought about the Grand Final just yet, you know, we’ve got a big challenge ahead of us – a big two games.”
“We’ve done well to get to this point… credit to the staff, the Club and obviously the players as well. We’ve worked hard throughout the whole year, been consistent, and I think we’re in a position that we deserve to be in.
“Coming back, I’ve always said it would be a dream for me to obviously win something with this Club, but it’s going to take a lot of hard work, and it’s going to be step by step, and the first step is, Western.”
ON THE TWO-LEGGED SEMI…
“Western, they are going to be a tough opposition for us. You know, they’re there for a reason because they’ve had a really good year as well.
“I think we’re just going to take it game by game. Just focus on ourselves. But, same time, we’re not going to change the way we play. We haven’t done that all year, and it’s not going to happen now.
“We want to win both games. That’s the mentality we have and we’ve had all year and that’s what’s got us to this position.”
ON THE YOUTH OF THE LEAGUE…
“Look it’s been great I think for the league [the talent of youth for both Western United and the A-League]. You’ve seen a lot of young boys getting opportunities and, you’ve seen that in our team as well throughout the year.
“I think if you ask all of those boys that have had the opportunity, if they thought they would have got the minutes they got, they probably would have said no to you at the start of the season.
“They’ve come in and done a great job for us too, till now. And, you know, they’ll still get opportunities in these few games as well. So yeah, look it’s great for the league. And you know, just at the end of the day, whether it’s a young player or an old player or it’s an opposition player so you’ve got to respect who’s on the pitch, but at the same time, just focus on us as a team and as an individual.”
