Anticipation is high ahead of Saturday night’s Semi-Final Second Leg, with Melbourne City just 90 minutes away from booking a place in the 2025 A-League Men’s Grand Final.
Aurelio Vidmar’s side made the perfect start to the tie last weekend, running out 3-0 winners over cross-town rivals Western United in the first leg at AAMI Park.
With both legs played at the same venue, City now returns to familiar surroundings, determined to finish the job in front of our home fans.
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A Quick Look Back
City took firm control of the two-legged tie thanks to an impressive performance last Friday night.
While the overall contest may have appeared more evenly poised in terms of general play, it was City’s clinical edge in front of goal that ultimately proved the difference.
A thumping header from Germán Ferreyra opened the scoring inside the opening 20 minutes, before a moment of brilliance from Yonatan Cohen doubled our lead shortly after the restart.
Mathew Leckie then capped off the performance with his first league goal in over 500 days, arriving in the right place at the right time to slam home a third.
City’s defensive steel also shone through once again, with Patrick Beach producing multiple key saves and the backline—led by Ferreyra and Kai Trewin—keeping their composure under pressure to secure a fourth consecutive clean sheet against Western United.
A Winning Formula
One of the key decisions facing Vidmar and his staff this week is whether to make any changes to the starting XI.
With a commanding win last time out, the case for continuity is strong—but there’s no shortage of depth waiting in the wings.
Nathaniel Atkinson returns to the squad after overcoming a minor calf issue and will be pushing for a return to the right side of defence.
Meanwhile, experienced duo Steven Ugarkovic and Mathew Leckie—both recently returning from injury—also remain in the frame, with Leckie in particular staking his claim via his impact off the bench in the first leg.
The Blend of Youth and Experience
City’s season has been underpinned by a strong contribution from its emerging talent, with a lengthy run of goals (15) earlier this year coming exclusively from players aged 23 and under.
We saw almost of inverse of that in the Semi-Final first leg, with the average age of our goalscorers coming in at over 30 years old.
It points to City not only getting experienced key players back from injury, but beginning to hit the perfect blend between youth and experience.
While some of the young guns we saw start regularly through the middle of the season are now largely seen among the substitutes, the experience gained through consistent minutes throughout the campaign sets them up perfectly to be used as impact subs both this Saturday night and hopefully a week later in a potential Grand Final.
Fixture Details
A-League Men Semi-Final: Second Leg
Melbourne City FC v Western United
AAMI Park
Saturday 24 May
7:35pm KO
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