Melbourne City are A-League Men’s Champions for the second time in Club history, defeating Melbourne Victory 1-0 in front of a sold-out AAMI Park on Saturday night.
Yonatan Cohen’s 10th-minute strike was ultimately the difference, as City produced a monumental defensive display to lift the Championship trophy and close out an incredible 2024/25 campaign in the best possible fashion.
Team News
Aurelio Vidmar made just one change to his starting line-up from the Semi-Final second leg, bringing in Mathew Leckie for his first start in over a month after three straight appearances off the bench.
The inclusion saw Ale Lopane shift to the bench, while Lawrence Wong also returned amongst the subs after missing last week due to a wrist injury.
Starting XI: 33. Patrick BEACH (GK), 13. Nathaniel ATKINSON, 22. Germán FERREYRA, 27. Kai TREWIN, 16. Aziz BEHICH (C), 6. Steven UGARKOVIC, 7. Mathew LECKIE, 30. Andreas KUEN, 10. Yonatan COHEN, 23. Marco TILIO, 17. Max CAPUTO.
Substitutes: 18. Dakota OCHSENHAM (GK), 2. Callum TALBOT, 19. Zane SCHREIBER, 21. Ale LOPANE, 35. Medin MEMETI, 39. Emin DURAKOVIC, 47. Kavian RAHMANI
What happened?
Victory made the stronger start, dominating possession early and keeping City pinned back in the opening minutes. But despite the slow beginning, City struck first with a brilliant counterattacking move.
In the 10th minute, Aziz Behich delivered a clever backheel to Andreas Kuen on the left, who whipped a cross into Max Caputo. The striker’s shot thundered into the crossbar, but Cohen was on hand to smash home the rebound and give City the early lead.
Leckie was immense at both ends of the pitch, producing a vital block to deny Machach in the 19th minute before almost doubling the lead himself just five minutes later – his powerful header from a corner was kept out by Duncan on the goal line.
City gradually grew into the contest and had settled by the half-hour mark, though Victory continued to threaten.
Patrick Beach made a sharp save to deny Machach an equaliser before the break, while the likes of Trewin, Ferreyra and Behich stood tall under pressure to preserve the advantage heading into half-time.
City nearly doubled the lead just after the restart, Cohen again going close with a curling effort that was well saved. Leckie, who had been everywhere, copped a stray boot to the head shortly after but was cleared to continue, sporting a heavy bandage for the remainder of the game.
Caputo remained lively and was inches away from finding the bottom corner in the 65th after a defensive slip by Victory, before being replaced by Medin Memeti. Cohen continued to pose a threat, providing a perfect 74th-minute delivery for Ferreyra, whose header sailed narrowly over.
As the game wore on, the tension ramped up with plenty of physical challenges and end-to-end moments. City pushed for a second to seal it, but ultimately needed to dig in and defend with everything we had.
With seven minutes added on, Victory threw everything forward, but City’s backline held strong. Josh Rawlins had a chance with a late header, but it flew wide – and moments later, the final whistle sparked wild celebrations as City were crowned Champions of Australia.
