Victory's stunning win in Auckland sets up all-Melbourne A-League grand final
Melbourne Victory dashed Auckland FC's hopes of a fairytale A-League men's grand final appearance, upsetting the expansion franchise 2-0 in the second leg of their semi-final to secure a 2-1 aggregate win and place in next week's decider.
Goals from Zinedine Machach and Bruno Fornaroli overturned the AAMI Park deficit in the space of five second-half minutes, silencing a sold-out Mount Smart Stadium and ensuring next week's final will be an all-Melbourne affair.
Regardless of whether Arthur Diles' side is joined by Melbourne City or Western United, the former holding a 3-0 lead heading into the second leg of their semi, the clash will be staged at AAMI Park next Saturday night.
It marks a second-straight grand final appearance for the Victory after they lost to Central Coast in last year's decider and represents a remarkable turnaround from December, when coach Patrick Kisnorbo's abrupt exit to take up a position in Japan sparked a six-game winless run.
Their joy came at the expense of Auckland's hopes of securing a historic premiership and championship double in their debut season.
But the Victory face the prospect of being without Nishan Velupillay for next week after the attacker suffered a potentially serious injury at the end of a spiteful first half.
Hurting his lower right leg in the incident, the Socceroo emerged to watch the second half on crutches, with serious questions now hovering over his availability for crunch World Cup qualifiers against Japan and Saudi Arabia next month.
The visitors rallied without the attacker and took the lead ten minutes into the second stanza when a long-range effort from Machach took a wicked deflection off Nando Pijnaker, wrong-footing keeper Alex Paulsen and finding the net.
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