Singular focus key to Melbourne City's title win, says coach Vidmar
Melbourne City coach Aurelio Vidmar credited his side's singular focus as the reason for claiming the A-League championship on Saturday after a 1-0 Grand Final win over neighbours Melbourne Victory earned the club their first title since 2021.
Yonatan Cohen's 10th-minute goal was enough to decide a feisty derby clash at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium and secure the City Football Group-owned outfit only their second Australian championship in five finals appearances.
"It's an unbelievable feeling, to be honest," said Vidmar.
"It probably wasn't the prettiest of Grand Finals but it was gritty, we fought for every inch and I'm so rapt for everyone - the players, obviously, but everyone at the club.
"Everyone was always heading in the right direction, even when we had those setbacks and hiccups.
"No one ever wavered. That was the direction we were going and we stayed true to ourselves, stayed true to our principles and so rapt for everyone."
Vidmar reserved special praise for Mathew Leckie, who put in a man-of-the-match performance despite playing in an unfamiliar central midfield role and suffering a suspected broken nose in an accidental clash with Zinedine Machach in the second half.
The Australia international has rarely featured this season due to injury but dominated at the heart of the City team, even though his head was heavily bandaged for more than 30 minutes due to lacerations on his face.
"I think he's gone 15 rounds with Mike Tyson, he's pretty banged up," said Vidmar.
"He was enormous for us tonight, absolutely enormous. We let the Ferrari get out of the garage tonight and he just played an incredible game.
"He had a lot of issues this year, he had a lot of issues also going into this game but he's such a tough competitor, a guy that always wants to win.
"He just fought to the death, absolutely enormous."
After claiming his first A-League championship as a coach, Vidmar is hoping for a similar result next season, although he refused to look too far ahead with celebrations to come for some of his squad and national team commitments for others.
"We're not going to talk about what happens next year until we come back" for preseason, he said.
"It's never easy, the second year. But if our focus is right, if our intentions are right from the very first day of preseason, then generally you get a good feel.
"And that's definitely the feel we had the first day of preseason this year." REUTERS
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