A-League preview: Adelaide v Victory

Jacob Butterfield

Melbourne Victory returns to A-League action for the first time in three weeks with a trip to Adelaide United on Saturday.

Summary

Victory started its campaign with a 3-1 loss to Brisbane Roar on January 2, but fixture changes have meant that was its last outing.

Callum McManaman marked his A-League debut with a fine goal in that clash.

The winger scored again in a 1-1 friendly draw against Hume City last week and netted in Tuesday’s 4-0 victory over Altona Magic.

Robbie Kruse returned from a knee injury against Hume, while Ryan Shotton made his first appearances for the club.

Rudy Gestede netted a brace against the Magic and Jacob Butterfield was also on the scoresheet.

The break between A-League fixtures also gave Marco Rojas time to recover from a hamstring injury suffered against Brisbane at the beginning of the month.

Victory visits an Adelaide side that has already played three A-League games, the most recent of which was a 5-3 loss to Perth Glory on Wednesday.

The trip to Coopers Stadium could also see Storm Roux make a milestone appearance for the club, the right-back having reached 49 A-League games in Victory colours.

Player in focus

What they said

“We’ve managed to get a couple of internal games and a couple of games outside in NPL land, which has been good for us. Of course, we’ve had a little bit of a longer dwell on the result (against Brisbane), which wasn’t great, but fully looking forward to this weekend now.” – Victory head coach Grant Brebner.

Last time

Hyundai A-League 2019/20 Round 21
Melbourne Victory 2-1 Adelaide United
Saturday, February 29, 2020
Marvel Stadium, Melbourne

Victory fell behind to a Kristian Opseth goal before Rojas levelled after getting on the end of a Tim Hoogland cross.

And it found a dramatic winner in additional time after a spectacular strike from Andrew Nabbout.

As it stands

Head to head

Round 21, 2019/20: Victory 2-1 Adelaide at Marvel Stadium
Round 15, 2019/20: Adelaide 1-0 Victory at Coopers Stadium
Round 7, 2019/20: Adelaide 3-1 Victory at Coopers Stadium
Round 26, 2018/19: Adelaide 1-0 Victory at Coopers Stadium
Round 12, 2018/19: Adelaide 2-0 Victory at Coopers Stadium

Match details

Adelaide United v Melbourne Victory
Coopers Stadium, Adelaide
Saturday, January 23, 2021
Kick-off: 7.40pm AEDT

Melbourne Victory squad: 1.Matt ACTON (gk), 2.Storm ROUX, 3.Adama TRAORE, 5.Ryan SHOTTON, 6.Leigh BROXHAM (c), 7.Callum McMANAMAN, 8.Jacob BUTTERFIELD, 9.Rudy GESTEDE, 10.Robbie KRUSE, 13.Birkan KIRDAR, 14.Jay BARNETT, 15.Aaron ANDERSON, 16.Brandon LAUTON, 17.Elvis KAMSOBA, 19.Dylan RYAN, 20.Max CROCOMBE (gk), 22.Jacob BRIMMER, 23.Marco ROJAS, 25.Luis LAWRIE-LATTANZIO 
**One to be omitted** 

In: 5.Ryan SHOTTON, 10.Robbie KRUSE
Out: 4.Nick ANSELL (injured – hamstring), 11.Ben FOLAMI (injured – knee), 32.So NISHIKAWA (injured – shoulder)
Unavailable: 


Callum McManaman