Melbourne Victory resumes its Hyundai A-League season against Western United on Saturday as Grant Brebner takes charge of the club for the first time.
Summary
Victory will be in action for the first time since March after the season was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Former star midfielder Brebner was appointed interim head coach last month after Carlos Salvachua decided to return to Europe.
Victory has five Hyundai A-League games remaining this season and sits 10 points adrift of sixth-placed Adelaide United ahead of the clash at Bankwest Stadium.
Ola Toivonen and Tim Hoogland have departed the club, while Jakob Poulsen announced his retirement in May.
Robbie Kruse will also miss the rest of the campaign after suffering a knee injury at training.
Victory has taken plenty of youth to Sydney, with Birkan Kirdar, 18, Luis Lawrie-Lattanzio, 18, So Nishikawa, 19, Aaron Anderson, 19 and Lleyton Brooks, 19, making the trip.
After facing Western United, Victory are scheduled to take on Brisbane Roar, Central Coast Mariners, Perth Glory and Western Sydney Wanderers in New South Wales.
Player in focus
What they said
“It’s doable and obviously if I look too far ahead then we’ll take our eyes off the prize and our prize is the first game because the bubble can burst. I don’t want us getting ahead of ourselves anyway, our first game is the main priority and then we’ll take care of Brisbane once that’s out the way.” – Victory interim head coach Brebner.
Last time
Hyundai A-League 2019/20 Round 9
Western United 3-1 Melbourne Victory
Sunday, December 8, 2019
GMHBA Stadium, Geelong
Victory took the lead through Andrew Nabbout before falling to defeat as it conceded three times before half-time.
Besart Berisha scored a brace, either side of a Panagiotis Kone goal, for Western United.
As it stands
Head to head
Round 9, 2019/20: Western United 3-1 Victory at GMHBA Stadium
Round 4, 2019/20: Victory 2-3 Western United at Marvel Stadium
Match details
Melbourne Victory v Western United
Bankwest Stadium, Parramatta
Saturday, July 25, 2020
Kick-off: 7.35pm AEST
Watch live on Fox Sports 507, Kayo or the MyFootball app
Melbourne Victory squad: 1.Matt ACTON (gk), 2.Storm ROUX, 4.James DONACHIE, 6.Leigh BROXHAM (c), 7.Kenny ATHIU, 9.Andrew NABBOUT, 13.Birkan KIRDAR, 15.Giancarlo GALLIFUOCO, 16.Josh HOPE, 17.Elvis KAMSOBA, 18.Migjen BASHA, 20.Lawrence THOMAS (gk), 21.Adama TRAORE, 23.Marco ROJAS, 24.Anthony LESIOTIS, 25.Brandon LAUTON, 26.Jay BARNETT, 31.Aaron ANDERSON, 34. Lleyton BROOKS, 43.Luis LAWRIE-LATTANZIO
**2-4 to be omitted**
Ins: 7.Kenny ATHIU (promoted), 15.Giancarlo GALLIFUOCO (return from suspension), 16.Josh HOPE (promoted), 31.Aaron ANDERSON (promoted), 34.Lleyton BROOKS (promoted), 43.Luis LAWRIE-LATTANZIO (promoted)
Outs: 11.Ola TOIVONEN (released), 19.Ben CARRIGAN (injured), 38.So NISHIKAWA (omitted)
Unavailable: 5.Tim HOOGLAND (released), 8.Jakob POULSEN (released), 10.Robbie KRUSE (knee – season)
