Melbourne City FC and Melbourne Victory are set to meet for the 38th time in the final Derby of the 2021/22 season, set to be fiercely contested against the familiar backdrop of the AAMI Park stands in a Saturday night A-League Men’s blockbuster.
There is plenty riding on the clash for both teams, with City in the midst of a fierce title race with Western United, and Victory looking to book its spot in the Finals.
The City boys added to their lead at the top of the table in comprehensive fashion with a dominant 4-0 win at home to Sydney FC on Wednesday night.
Jordan Bos opened the scoring with his first senior goal, rifling a cracking volley into the bottom corner through a sea of bodies after the ball was cleared to him from a corner.
A second-half Mathew Leckie double and Jamie Maclaren’s 14th goal of the season saw all three points go City’s way in a result that saw the boys move eight points clear of Western United, but they’ll have had to move on quickly as they prepare for a high-stakes Melbourne Derby.
Victory finds itself in a similar predicament in terms of a short turnaround, though with the additional burden of having played two hours later on the same night over in Western Australia against Perth Glory.
City’s crosstown rivals were able to scrape a narrow 1-0 away win over a depleted Glory side thanks to Francesco Margiotta’s 57th-minute strike.
Though both teams therefore come into the Derby on the back of wins, the vastly different nature of these results will hopefully see the City boys even more confident than their navy blue opposition, especially having scored 10 goals in their past two games whilst also keeping three consecutive clean sheets.
The Melbourne Derby has recently entered a new chapter featuring a fierce battle for footballing superiority in which neither side has been willing to budge, with City and Victory playing out three successive draws in the aftermath of the demolition Derbies of 2020/21.
The most recent entry into the fixture’s storied history was a tense 1-1 draw where few big chances were conceded – aside from the goals to Marco Rojas and Curtis Good respectively – until City’s late barrage on the Victory goal that failed to bear fruit by the final whistle.
The fixture’s 38th edition shapes up to be another enthralling clash between two well-matched teams largely in good form over their past five fixtures.
Nonetheless, City fans will be hoping that it’s the lighter shade of blue that prevails in order to maintain our buffer at the top of the table before we head away to Thailand for our inaugural Asian Champions League campaign.
Match Details
A-League Men
Melbourne Victory FC vs Melbourne City FC
Saturday 9 April, kick-off 7:45pm
AAMI Park
