Melbourne City Head Coach Aurelio Vidmar and star attacker Max Caputo spoke to the media ahead of City’s AFC Champions League Elite clash with Buriram United FC on Tuesday night.
Looking to secure the team’s first points of the competition at home, Vidmar and Caputo reflected on the importance of the fixture.
DON’T MISS THE CLASH – SECURE YOUR TICKETS NOW.
Read Aurelio Vidmar’s pre-match thoughts below…
READY FOR THE BATTLE…
“We’ve had a couple of difficult games, obviously against Hiroshima and Kobe away.
“I thought we started slowly against Hiroshima, but, we had a solid game against, Kobe. So that probably gave us a little bit of confidence. It’s nice to be playing this game at home and trying to do everything we can to take some points.
“It’s a quick turnaround. There’s still some guys with knocks and bruises, it was obviously a very physical game on Saturday… so yeah we have to go through a few things tonight at training [MD-1 session] in preparation for tomorrow’s game and then, let’s see how they hold up.”
ON ACLE FOOTBALL…
“We know how difficult it [this competition] is. The competition in this format is completely different from past years.
“Previously in a group of four, there was always a weaker team. And so, unfortunately there’s no weaker teams now with the way the format is, so it’s important that we perform well.
“And if we do perform well, then we have always a good chance to take in points. We know our opposition, they’ve been a very competitive, successful team in the Thai League for a number of years. And they perform exceptionally well on a year by year basis as they enter this competition as well.”
Read Max Caputo’s pre-match thoughts below…
HUNGRY FOR THE CHALLENGE…
“I didn’t start last season at all due to the injury… to finally be starting games at the very start of the season for the first time in my career, I’m getting the opportunity to do that. So yeah, it’s a very special moment for me.
“It’s [AFC Champions League Elite] very different to Australian football. The defenders, some of them are from Brazil and the Japanese defenders who are playing for the national teams, are very strong defenders.
“Now I have Curtis Good who’s lining up against me tomorrow night. So, obviously trained with him since I was 15 years old, and yeah looking forward to tomorrow night against him.
“I think I look at every other game the same, whether it’s the A-League or any competition. Just another opponent really, try to look towards it like that. So yeah, not too much pressure [on myself] going into these games.”
Fixture Details
AFC Champions League Elite: League Stage – Matchday 3
Melbourne City FC v Buriram United
Tuesday 21 October
6:45pm KO
Melbourne Rectangular Stadium
GET TICKETS!
