Melbourne Victory face Melbourne City in Round 18 of the Isuzu UTE A-League on Saturday, February 21, kick-off 7:35pm AEDT.
The season’s final instalment of the Melbourne Derby takes place at AAMI Park, with the teams boasting a win apiece from this term’s two previous meetings.
Victory warmed up for the clash by drawing 1-1 on home soil with Brisbane Roar last weekend, when Charles Nduka scored his first goal for the Club.
City’s most recent league outing against Western Sydney Wanderers ended by the same scoreline nearly a fortnight ago.
The Boys in Blue
Melbourne Victory, in the first of two straight grudge matches, are hunting their second win in three matches to push them deeper into the top six ahead of the run-in.
Three points this Saturday would put them five clear of Melbourne City and could be enough for them to leapfrog Adelaide United, who they host in the Original Rivalry on the final Friday of February.
Both opponents have felt the force of Victory at AAMI Park this campaign, when, in reverse order, they were defeated on back-to-back December weekends. The latter was a dramatic derby triumph for Arthur Diles’ side, clinched courtesy of Matt Grimaldi’s late winner.
The Boys in Blue appeared on course for another success in their latest outing, having led at the interval versus Brisbane Roar after a dominant first-half showing, highlighted by Charles Nduka’s delicate finish.
Unfortunately, Victory were pegged back following the restart to be denied a fifth home win of 2025/26, meaning the 51st Melbourne Derby is seventh taking on sixth.
Round 18 Squad: 2. Jason DAVIDSON, 3. Adama TRAORE, 8. Jordi VALADON, 9. Nikolaos VERGOS, 10. Denis GENREAU, 11. Clerismario SANTOS RODRIGUES, 14. Matthew GRIMALDI, 15. Sebastian ESPOSITO, 16. Joshua INSERRA, 17. Nishan VELUPILLAY, 18. Franco LINO, 19. Jing REEC, 21. Roderick MIRANDA, 22. Joshua RAWLINS, 23. Keegan JELACIC, 25. Jack DUNCAN, 34. Xavier STELLA, 40. Jack WARSHAWSKY, 44. Charles NDUKA, 64. Juan MATA
Ins: N/A
Outs: 29. Oliver DRAGICEVIC
Unavailable: 7. Reno PISCOPO (injured), 27. Louis D’ARRIGO (injured)
City’s story
Recording just two wins from seven A-League matches in 2026, Melbourne City will need to recapture their early-season form to ensure the feast of Finals football gets underway with the defending Champions at the table.
Aurelio Vidmar’s team started by taking points from six of their first seven fixtures to nestle themselves in the top half, whilst winning three group matches in the AFC Champions League Elite. They have since qualified for the knockout stages, where they will face Buriram United over two legs in March.
City are now without Socceroo Kai Trewin, who headed Stateside in the transfer window to join New York City, but they did add three loanees to their squad in January. Former Melbourne Victory players Ryan Teague and Daniel Arzani were joined by young winger Marcus Younis.
Younis scored on debut, although it was not enough to alter the outcome of a 6-2 defeat away to Macarthur FC, before his Round 15 goal against Wellington Phoenix had more of an impact, helping City wipe out a two-goal deficit to take a point on the road.
Run it back
Matt Grimaldi’s 91st-minute goal decided the pre-Christmas Melbourne Derby at AAMI Park.
Earlier in the piece, the goalkeepers had come out on top, with Patrick Beach clawing away a Nikos Vergos chip before Melbourne Victory stopper Jack Duncan superbly kept out Medin Memeti’s close-range header.
This cued up a grandstand finish, and just half a dozen minutes after coming off the bench, Grimaldi collected Juan Mata’s short corner, via Denis Genreau, to lash in the winner.
Last time out
Melbourne Victory were left frustrated after being held to a draw by Brisbane Roar in Round 17.
The hosts led inside a quarter of an hour into the Saturday evening contest, with Charles Nduka latching onto Juan Mata’s wonderful forward pass to effortlessly chip Roar goalkeeper Dean Bouzanis.
Brisbane would, however, improve in the second 45 and levelled for a point when Nicholas D’Agostino poked in Samuel Klein’s low cutback.
Melbourne City played out a scoreless draw with Gangwon FC to complete their AFC Champions League Elite League Stage schedule on Wednesday night.
Alessandro Lopane had City’s best chance of the clash, navigating his way into a shooting position, only to be denied by visiting goalkeeper Chung-Hyo Park.
The result means Aurelio Vidmar’s team are six matches unbeaten in the competition, having lost their opening two matches back in September and October.
