Arzani shines as Victory knock Wanderers out of finals
Daniel Arzani was the star of the show as Melbourne Victory edged past Western Sydney Wanderers before failing to finish his side's 2-1 A-League Men elimination final win.
Victory will play host premiers Auckland in the first match of a two-legged semi-final next Saturday after Arzani helped Arthur Diles' men end the Wanderers' finals campaign.
But Arzani, who had to be helped off the field by Victory medical staff with 10 minutes to go, could be in doubt.
The 26-year-old had a hand in both of his side's goals on Saturday as they ended the Wanderers' 11-game unbeaten run in front of 16, 399 spectators at CommBank Stadium.
The Wanderers had chances to tie the game, but star import Juan Mata butchered a golden opportunity in the final quarter of an hour.
Victory did a terrific job to nullify the Wanderers' attacking threats, and it helped that at the other end Arzani was clearly in a mood to make an impact.
The Socceroos winger has consistently had his work rate and effort questioned, particularly by former Victory manager and current national team boss Tony Popovic.
But Arzani was popping up everywhere and he gave Victory their lead after taking charge of his side's attack on the right.
Arzani scampered in-field and, unchallenged, floated the ball past Gabriel Cleur and found left-back Kasey Bos, who buried the ball past Lawrence Thomas to give the away side a sixth-minute lead.
The early goal seemed to spark the Wanderers into action, and after some encouraging waves of attack they eventually broke through courtesy of Zac Sapsford.
Brandon Borrello poked a ball through the Victory defence in the 23rd minute and Sapsford raced ahead, turning the ball beyond the reach of Jack Duncan with his first touch.
But Arzani took matters into his own hands to ensure Victory went in at halftime with a 2-1 lead.
Jinking down the left touchline this time, the winger took on Cleur and beat him to the byline to squeeze a ball back across the face of the six-yard box.
Bozhidar Kraev failed to beat Zinedine Machach to the ball and the Frenchman struck past Thomas.
Arzani looked the most likely to conjure something for Victory to put the game to bed, but he trudged off with a limp.
Wanderers boss Alen Stajcic had thrown Mata into the game in pursuit of a goal.
And while the Spanish international nearly set up fellow sub Marcus Antonsson, he fluffed at the best chance of the night.
Mata was unmarked in the middle of the box when the ball was played into him, but he skied it into the second tier of the grandstand.
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