With the bye in the Hyundai A-League this weekend, Melbourne Victory can focus fully on its next opponent in the AFC Champions League; FC Seoul.
The team will spend the remainder of the week training in Melbourne before flying out to South Korea on Saturday morning.
After making his debut for the club in the win over Chiangrai United, defender Giancarlo Gallifuoco said next Tuesday’s match can’t come soon enough.
“We have seven days to obsess about Seoul and try to try and achieve that same feeling again,” Gallifuoco said.
Such a long period between matches has been rare for the Victory squad.
Nine games in just 36 days has seen the team clock up plenty of time on the road with trips to Central Coast, Adelaide, Perth and Kashima in Japan.
But GG believes the trip to the South Korea capital couldn’t come at a better time.
“It’s wonderful to have the bye. We’re all so grateful to have a seven day turnaround.”
“It’s a big flight, it would have been fatiguing on the body if we had to play in the A-League and then fly.”
“I’m really excited to spend time with my teammates, and it’s like a fast forward with your friendships because you spend a lot of time with them and get to bond with people.”
The club’s historic first ever away win in the ACL over Kashima a fortnight ago has helped build belief ahead of next week’s visit to FC Seoul at the World Cup Stadium.
“If we can keep this momentum rolling and when we go to Seoul bring this energy and attitude I don’t see why we can’t keep going deep in this competition.”
Victory takes on FC Seoul on Tuesday, February 18 at the Seoul World Cup Stadium. Kick-off is 9:30pm AEDT.
