Preview: Chiangrai v Victory

Brandon Lauton

Melbourne Victory will face Thailand’s Chiangrai United on Monday night (kick-off, 12am Tuesday morning) in its fifth AFC Champions League Group E fixture.

Summary

Victory will be aiming for its first win since arriving in Doha, where its campaign restarted last week with back-to-back matches against Beijing FC.

Head Coach Grant Brebner continues to assert his style on the new-look squad and has handed a number of players their debuts including new signings Jake Brimmer, Jacob Butterfield and Ben Folami.

Winger Callum McManaman also started in both games against the Chinese Super League side, while 19-year-old Gianluca Iannucci scored in his first Victory appearance. 

Brebner is tasked with fielding his fittest and strongest eleven players, against a Chiangrai side which is growing in confidence.

The opposition

Chiangrai recorded its first ever Champions League win on Friday, upsetting FC Seoul with a last-minute winner at the Jassim bin Hamad Stadium.

Veteran striker, Bill scored both as the Beetles capitalised on Park Chu-young’s missed penalty.

Chiangrai arrived in Doha 14 games into the ongoing Thai League 1 season, where it currently sits fourth on the ladder.

Head-to-head

An Ola Toivonen penalty separated Melbourne from Chiangrai when the teams first met in February.

ACL Group Stage 2020: Victory 1 – 0 Chiangrai at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium

As it stands

Victory and Chiangrai both sit on three points in Group E, while Victory has a slightly better goal difference.

Beijing leads the group with a 100% record and will face FC Seoul at 9:00pm on Monday night.

Match details

Chiangrai United v Melbourne Victory
Jassim bin Hamad Stadium, Doha
Tuesday, December 1, 2020
Kick-off: 00:00 AEDT
Broadcast: Fox Sports and Kayo Sport

Melbourne Victory squad: Matthew ACTON (gk), Aaron ANDERSON, Nick ANSELL, Jay BARNETT, Marko BULIC (gk), Jacob BUTTERFIELD, Jacob BRIMMER, Leigh BROXHAM, Max CROCOMBE (gk), Ben FOLAMI, Gianluca IANNUCCI, Elvis KAMSOBA, Birkan KIRDAR, Brandon LAUTON, Luis LAWRIE- LATTANZIO, So NISHIKAWA, Callum MCMANAMAN, Marco ROJAS, Storm ROUX, Dylan RYAN, Adama TRAORE, Joshua VARGA

Unavailable: Robbie KRUSE (knee), Rudy Gestede


2020/21 membership banner