NPL preview: City v Victory

Melbourne Victory meets City in another Derby, with the youth teams to face off in the NPL 3 Victoria on Sunday.

Preview

A week after the Clubs met in the Isuzu UTE A-League and Liberty A-League – the matches ended in a draw and Victory win respectively – there will be yet another meeting.

Victory will face City at Parade College in Round 2 of the NPL 3 Victoria season.

In Head Coach Joe Palatsides’ first game in charge, Victory started the campaign with a 1-1 draw against Whittlesea Ranges.

After conceding early, Victory levelled through Binyam Kebede and looked the more likely to take all three points at Epping Stadium.

That was despite goalkeeper Marko Bulic getting sent off early in the second half for handling a strike outside his penalty area.

Despite its numerical disadvantage, Victory still created the better chances in the second half, but was unable to find a winner.

City also started the season with a 1-1 draw, held at home by Doveton.

Victory and City last met at youth level in January 2020, when the latter claimed a 3-2 win in the Y-League.

Player in focus

Signed by Victory in January, Luka Prso started against Whittlesea in the opening round. The midfielder produced a tidy performance before being substituted at half-time.

This week

NPL 3 Victoria: City v Melbourne Victory U23s (Sunday, March 27 at 3.00pm AEDT at Parade College, Bundoora)
U21 NPL 3 Victoria: City v Melbourne Victory (Sunday, March 27 at 12.30pm AEDT at Parade College, Bundoora)
U18 NPL North Victoria: Melbourne Victory v Moreland Zebras (Sunday, March 27 at 3.00pm AEDT at Harvest Home Recreation Reserve, Epping)
U16 NPL North Victoria: Melbourne Victory v Moreland Zebras (Sunday, March 27 at 1.00pm AEDT at Harvest Home Recreation Reserve, Epping)
U15 NPL North Victoria: Melbourne Victory v Moreland Zebras (Sunday, March 27 at 11.10am AEDT at Harvest Home Recreation Reserve, Epping)
U14 NPL North Victoria: Melbourne Victory v Moreland Zebras (Sunday, March 27 at 9.30am AEDT at Harvest Home Recreation Reserve, Epping)

Last week

NPL 3 Victoria: Victory U23s (Kebede 18′) Whittlesea Ranges 1
U21 NPL 3 Victoria: Victory 6 (Stamatelos 30’/34’/80′, Minutoli 41′, Pope 62′, Ganino 72′) Whittlesea Ranges 0
U18 NPL North Victoria: Hume City 1 Victory 1 (McCloskey 52′)
U15 NPL North Victoria: Hume City 0 Victory 9 (Gottoli 3′, Tasevski 18′, Marmura 21′, Radimisis 38′ pen/40′, Tongzon 43′, Atanasovski 60′, Limberis 61’/70′)
U14 NPL North Victoria: Hume City 0 Victory 4 (Toro 13′, Emtsis 37′, Muller 47′, Reec 53′)