A-League Grand Final LIVE: Flares on Swan Street as Melbourne Victory, Melbourne City play for the championship trophy
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Pinned post from 6.13pm
Flares on Swan Street as fans head to game
By Hannah Hammoud
Fans have set off flares on Swan Street right in front of a parade of uniformed officers.
The crowd is up and about now, the first sign of red hue was all they needed to get things going.
There's some push and shove as worried fans duck away from the banging flares, covering their eyes and mouths with scarves and beanies.
The release of flares may have excited some rowdy attendees, but a large majority of fans are visibly annoyed.
Police seem unfazed by the action, labelling the pre-game antics as done by 'a few bad eggs'.
Police have been directed to follow the crowds as they march to the stadium, but the 6pm start seems to be on hold for the moment.
6.11pm
How sold-out decider can start A-League Men revival
The good vibes are back in the A-League Men.
Now it's about kicking on from here.
The most fortuitous shot in the arm, a sell-out Melbourne derby grand final, couldn't have come at a better time for a league that has struggled with crowds and publicity in recent years.
'People that probably don't normally come to a week-to-week game will probably want to be here on Saturday night,' Melbourne City striker Marco Tilio told AAP.
'And I hope all those people that can't get tickets each want to be there for the following seasons and come support their team.
'It's huge for the APL (Australian Professional Leagues) to be able to host an event like this.
'I just hope all the next generation of kids and whatnot that are here and watching on Saturday night get that buzz that we all had when we were kids - and want to be in our position one day.
'So hopefully we can really excel from the position we're in with the grand final in Melbourne.'
Teammate Mathew Leckie wryly noted: 'It's amazing that the tickets were sold so fast.
'It would be great if that was the case all the time.″
For Victory great Archie Thompson, there couldn't be a better way to wrap the season.
Victory are chasing their fifth championship, to draw level with record-holders Sydney FC, and first since 2017-18, while City are after their second.
'It's just perfect - the 20th year of the A-League, to celebrate that with a grand final of a derby,' Thompson told AAP.
'When it gets sold out like that, you know it's going to be great.'
Incredibly, had the APL kept the grand final in Sydney until the end of this season under its deal with Destination NSW, instead of replacing it with Unite Round, this game could have proved an absurd situation.
'I'm so happy that they made that decision, and we've got a Melbourne derby,' Thompson said.
Victory captain Roderick Miranda believes a second grand final in two seasons shows how the club has recovered from the derby pitch invasion of December 2022, one of the darkest nights in Australian sport.
'In the end, I think we bounced back really quickly about with that,' Miranda said.
'Now we have the chance here to try to not make this event forgotten, but to make sure that we are here in the present, to show that football here in Australia is a big event, and hopefully we can have some light as well from other places.'
Now the attention will turn to the action on the pitch, and the latest enthralling encounter of a bitter rivalry.
'You look at some of the matches over the time: there's always been late winners. There's always been dramas,' Thompson said.
'It was Timmy Cahill's welcome to the league when he smacks it from 40 yards out, Eric Paartalu's header, Leroy George scores a winner.
'Back when it was early days, I got one just before Christmas.
'So all these little dramas just add up to make it really special.'
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