A-League grand final, Melbourne Victory v City live: news, scores, updates
Melbourne City are A-League champions for a second time after holding their nerve to deny local rivals Melbourne Victory a record-equalling fifth grand final triumph on Saturday night.
Yonatan Cohen's 10th-minute goal, the third fastest in men's grand final history, was the difference in the showpiece conclusion to the competition's 20th season watched by an AAMI Park sporting-record crowd of 29,902.
The matchwinner would have had himself a brace but headed a gilt-edged opportunity wide from Marco Tilio's cross with a quarter of an hour remaining.
Aurelio Vidmar's side were nevertheless content with their advantage, albeit slender, surviving a handball shout against Germán Ferreyra and sticking rigidly to the principles which have guided them to a fourth shot at glory in six years.
City's Yonatan Cohen celebrates his goal. Picture: Getty Images
The only adjustment was the super-human level of tenacity with which they performed - epitomised by Mathew Leckie sporting a bandage to patch up a busted nose after taking a boot to the face.
City pack punch in end-to-end first half
Victory, backed by a majority crowd, many of whom had been inside more than an hour before kick-off, endeavoured to feed off a combination of this fervour and momentum from their surprise semi-final win, with Daniel Arzani and Zinédine Machach having plenty of touches in the final third, whilst a loose Patrick Beach touch gifted them an early corner.
But their supporters were soon silenced and, because of the early promise, shellshocked, as Cohen read the play intelligently once Aziz Behich's cute backheel had given Andreas Kuen space to centre for Max Caputo, and was placed to pounce on his teammate's effort crashing out off the crossbar.
Nine minutes later, Jack Duncan had to be alert under his crossbar to keep out a towering header from Socceroo Leckie making his first start since March.
Meanwhile, Beach had settled his nerves and at full stretch, got gloves to Machach's fizzing as the last line of City's tigerish defences.
City's Aziz Behich and Victory's Zinadine Machach compete for the ball. Picture: Getty Images
No more bad luck against the Vucks for Vidmar
The outcome exorcises any demons lurking in Vidmar's mind from 2009's grand final when - facing Victory - his Adelaide United side suffered an early red card in a contest they would go on to lose by a single goal.
City's first championship triumph in 2021 will not be forgotten, but this glory - secured by winning the first-ever Melbourne Derby grand final - will be etched into folklore.
It also provided a full stop to the run of seven matches without success over Victory, although in these circumstances, an exclamation mark would be more fitting.
Tempers fray during the grand final. Picture: Getty Images
Devastation for Diles despite tremendous turnaround
Victory's season was at a crossroads after Patrick Kisnorbo left for Yokohama F. Marinos on the eve of the Christmas derby, and assistant boss Arthur Diles was thrust into the hot seat. It then appeared in reverse as his tenure started with six winless outings.
But three successes from four steered them back toward top-six contention, and when it comes to finals football, they are a different beast.
Driven by Diles' 'kill or be killed' mantra, they ended Western Sydney Wanderers' 12-game unbeaten streak in the elimination match, and caused another surprise by overturning a first-leg deficit away to Premiers Auckland FC.
They could not, however, become the first team to claim the championship after finishing outside of the top four and missing the acceleration of the injured Nishan Velupillay, struggled to penetrate 2024/25's meanest defence.
With the game slipping away, Josh Rawlins headed their clearest opening off target.
Originally published as A-League grand final, Melbourne Victory v City live: news, scores, updates
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