The clash
Melbourne City FC will be looking to win its first ever Hyundai A-League championship when it takes on Sydney FC in the Grand Final on Sunday night.
This will be City’s first A-League Grand Final appearance in the Club’s history, after it defeated Western United 2-0 in Wednesday night’s semi-final.
There weren’t too many clear-cut scoring chances on the night but City were awarded a penalty after Aaron Calver brought Jamie Maclaren down in the box.
The golden boot winner made no mistake from the spot and a late Western United own goal doubled the advantage and secured City’s Grand Final spot.
By the numbers this has been City’s best ever A-League season and a lot of this is due to Erick Mombaerts who has already formed a great connection with the players in his first season at the Club.
Sydney FC were too good for Perth Glory in the second semi-final, also winning by a scoreline of 2-0.
Sydney got the damage done early with Milos Ninkovic and Adam Le Fondre both finding the back of the net in the first half hour.
From there, it was mostly just a holding mission for Sydney, and their experienced line-up had no troubles with holding onto the lead and booking their third grand final appearance in the last three seasons.
Not only will the Grand Final be a 1v2 match-up on the table, it will also see Maclaren and Le Fondre clash after the two fought it out for the golden boot all season long.
With so much quality in either teams front third, the defences will have to be switched on right from the first whistle. Both teams are coming in with settled defences who were able to keep clean sheets in their respective semi-finals, setting up an enthralling encounter between the competition’s two best teams.
Last time they met
The last meeting between these teams came just three weeks ago and it was City’s first after the season resumption. It was another clean sheet on that day for a City team who ran out 2-0 winners thanks to second half goals to Craig Noone and Maclaren.
The two grand finalists also met earlier in the season, way back in December. It was Sydney winning 2-1 on the occasion despite City midfielder Connor Metcalfe opening the scoring.
Team news
Scott Jamieson remains in Melbourne after the birth of his first child and is City’s only unavailable player.
Melbourne City FC squad: 1.Tom GLOVER (gk), 2.Scott GALLOWAY, 4.Harrison DELBRIDGE, 6.Josh BRILLANTE, 7.Rostyn GRIFFITHS, 9.Jamie MACLAREN, 10.Florin BERENGUER, 11.Craig NOONE, 13.Nathaniel ATKINSON, 19.Lachlan WALES, 20.Adrian LUNA, 21.Ramy NAJJARINE, 22.Curtis GOOD, 30.Moudi NAJJAR, 34.Connor METCALFE, 35.Raphael BORGES RODRIGUES, 39.Idrus ABDULAHI, 40.Richard WINDBICHLER, 46.Joe GAUCI, 49.Stefan COLAKOVSKI
2-4 to be omitted
Ins: 35.Raphael BORGES RODRIGUES (promoted), 39.Idrus ABDULAHI (promoted)
Outs: nil
Unavailable: 3.Scott JAMIESON (personal leave)
How to watch
City LIVE presented by McDonald’s is back for one final time this season! Julian de Stoop and Thomas Sorensen will preview all of the action from 6pm, streaming live on Facebook and YouTube. You will then also be able to join them at half-time and full-time to dissect all of the action.
