Melbourne City is heading to the 2025 A-League Men’s Grand Final, sealing a 4-1 aggregate win over Western United following Saturday night’s 1-1 draw at AAMI Park.
While the second leg proved to be a more even affair on the scoreboard, City’s commanding first-leg performance laid the platform, and a 20th-minute opener from captain Aziz Behich ensured the job was all but done.
The result sets up the biggest Melbourne Derby of all time, with City now set to face Melbourne Victory in next weekend’s Grand Final.
Team News
Head Coach Aurelio Vidmar made two changes to the starting XI that opened the first leg, bringing Nathaniel Atkinson back into the fold at right-back after overcoming a calf issue, while Steven Ugarkovic returned to the midfield in place of Zane Schreiber.
Starting XI: 33. Patrick BEACH (GK), 13. Nathaniel ATKINSON, 22. Germán FERREYRA, 27. Kai TREWIN, 16. Aziz BEHICH (C), 6. Steven UGARKOVIC, 21. Ale LOPANE, 30. Andreas KUEN, 10. Yonatan COHEN, 23. Marco TILIO, 17. Max CAPUTO.
Substitutes: 18. Dakota OCHSENHAM (GK), 2. Callum TALBOT, 7. Mathew LECKIE, 19. Zane SCHREIBER, 35. Medin MEMETI, 39. Emin DURAKOVIC, 47. Kavian RAHMANI.
What happened?
City started on the front foot with two early chances for Max Caputo – both headers – narrowly missing the mark following pinpoint deliveries from Yonatan Cohen.
With the midfield trio of Alessandro Lopane, Andreas Kuen and Ugarkovic well on top, and Tilio and Cohen again lively in the final third, it felt like a matter of time before the breakthrough came.
That moment arrived in the 20th minute, when Cohen replicated last week’s curling effort from distance. While Matthew Sutton managed to get a glove on the shot this time, he could only parry it into the path of the onrushing Behich, who made no mistake with the follow-up to send the City fans into raptures.
Tilio nearly added a second before the break, and at the other end, Patrick Beach delivered an outstanding triple save to deny Matthew Grimaldi and Michael Ruhs in quick succession and maintain City’s control at the half.
Mathew Leckie entered the fray at the break and immediately added drive to City’s attack, but a string of missed chances kept Western in the contest. Caputo again went close, this time denied by another sharp Sutton save following clever play from Kai Trewin.
Western finally broke through via a 66th-minute counterattack finished off by Noah Botic, but any late hope of a comeback was quickly extinguished by more resilient City defending – led by Germán Ferreyra and Beach, who again came up with a big stop late to preserve the scoreline.
What’s next?
A Melbourne Derby Grand Final. It doesn’t get any bigger than that.
Stay tuned to Club channels in the coming days, with ticketing information to be communicated as soon as it comes to hand.
