Saturday night’s Isuzu UTE A-League Grand Final sees two teams collide in pursuit of history.
For Patrick Kisnorbo’s Melbourne City, it’s consecutive Premiership and Championship doubles on the line. No team has ever achieved that feat in A-League Women’s or Men’s history.
For Western United, it’s head coach John Aloisi leading the charge toward a club-first title decider.
They are two clubs under unique pressures, but the stakes are all the same, with one destined for glory and the other for heartache.
Western have the wood over City this season, drawing once and winning twice in the three regular-season fixtures between the teams. Late in the season, Western were destined to be Premiers; the plate was virtually in their hands. But a dip in form allowed City to capitalise and end the season on top.
Western ultimately slipped out of the top two, losing a guaranteed spot in the semi-finals. They shrugged off Wellington Phoenix to set up a semi-final date with Melbourne Victory, losing the first leg before steamrolling Tony Popovic’s side in the second. It appeared a shock result from the outside, but from within belief had never wavered that Western would go all the way.
City, meanwhile, needed 30 minutes of extra time after two legs against Adelaide United to sneak past the Reds. Marco Tilio was the hero, emerging off the bench to fire his team into the club’s third-consecutive A-League Men’s Grand Final.
GRAND FINAL MATCH DETAILS
Melbourne City v Western United
Saturday, May 28 2022
AAMI Park
Kick-off: 7.45pm AEST
KEY STATS
● Western United are undefeated in their last four A-League Men games against Melbourne City (W3, D1) after having lost all five of their clashes in the competition prior including a 2-0 loss in their only previous post-season clash (semi final, 2019-20).
● City have lost only one of their last 10 A-League Men games played at AAMI Park (W6, D3),while Western United FC have lost only one of their last eight at the venue (W5, D2); City have won only two of their six previous games against Western at the venue (D1, L3).
● Six of the last eight A-League Men seasons have seen the same team crowned Premiers and Champions, including City in 2020-21; indeed, City will be looking to become the first team in A-League Men history to clinch both the premiership and championship in successive seasons.
● Western will feature in their maiden A-League Men Grand Final, becoming the 10th team in the history of the competition to reach the final game of the season; however, the last time any team won in their first appearance at the grand final was Brisbane Roar FC in 2011 (Perth Glory, Western Sydney Wanderers FC and Melbourne City FC have all lost maiden Grand Finals since).
● City have won possession in the final third seven times per game in the 2021-22 A-League Men season, the most of any team in the competition and three per game more than Western (four).
● Western have kept 11 clean sheets in the 2021-22 A-League Men season, the most of any team in the competition and five more than City (six); in fact, the last time any team kept more in a single campaign was in 2018-19 when Perth Glory kept 13 clean sheets.
● Western have scored the opening goal of the game in 20 of their 29 games in the 2021-22 A-League Men season, the second-most of any team in the competition (Melbourne Victory 21/28), while City (eight) have conceded more goals within the opening 15 minutes of games than any other team in the competition.
● City’s Andrew Nabbout has made 36 carries ending in a shot at goal in the 2021-22 A-League Men season, 13 more than any other player in the competition and more than twice as many as Western’s best Dylan Pierias (15).
● Jamie Maclaren of City has scored nine goals in A-League Men matches between the club and Western, the most by any player in the history of this fixture and five more than the next best (Besart Berisha – four).
● Western’s Aleksandar Prijovic has been directly involved in eight goals in his last seven A-League Men games at AAMI Park (four goals, four assists), including three goals and one assist in three games