City claimed a 3-1 aggregate victory over Western United in the play-off semi-final, but their cross-city rivals were made to work extra hard for a ticket to the showpiece.
Victory grinded out a 2-1 aggregate win against Auckland FC, ending their hopes of winning the double in their debut A-League season.
Victory stun Auckland at the Go Media Stadium
Victory stunned Auckland FC with a 2-0 win at the Go Media Stadium to clinch a 2-1 aggregate win and book their place in the A-League Grand Final.
Trailing 1-0 from the first leg, Victory arrived in Auckland needing something special to turn things around – and they delivered.
In front of a record-breaking home crowd of 29,148, the visitors turned the tie on its head with a clinical second-half performance that silenced the raucous home fans.
The breakthrough came in the 55th minute when Zinedine Machach found space at the edge of the area.
His deflected shote wrong-footing goalkeeper Alex Paulsen and nestled into the bottom corner.
Victory only needed another five minutes to land the knockout blow.
A flowing team move sliced through the Auckland defence, and striker Bruno Fornaroli was on hand to finish from inside the box.
His clinically dispatched effort sent the away bench into raptures and left the Black Knights reeling.
Keen to salvage something, Auckland threw the kitchen sink at Victory in the final stages of the game, and they came agonisingly close to drawing level.
Defender Nando Pijnaker nearly became the hero in stoppage time, but his goal-bound effort was cleared off the line in dramatic fashion.
Victory held firm to secure their second consecutive appearance in the play-off Grand Final, leaving Auckland with a bitter end to what has been a special season.
City Ease Past Western with Commanding Display
City booked their place in the final for the fifth time in six seasons after easing past Western 4-1 on aggregate in a commanding semi-final performance.
They went into the second leg at AAMI Park with a comfortable 3-0 lead and made sure there was no room for Western to stage a miraculous comeback.
They played out a 1-1 draw, which was more than enough for City to advance.
Veteran left-back and captain Aziz Behich opened the scoring in the second leg.
That basically put the tie to bed as it left Western with a mountain too high to climb.
A second-half reply from Noah Botic gave Western something to cheer about, but it was far too late for a miracle.
Western bowed out with their chins up after an impressive campaign.
They went from 11th last term to third this season and beat Adelaide United en route to the semi- final but couldn’t find a way past a dogged City side over two legs.
Having finished second in the regular season, City made the most of their week off against Western.
They’ll now turn their attention to what promises to be a historic decider.
It will be the first time in the league’s 20-year history that finalists hail from the Victorian capital.
A-League Poised for Melbourne Showdown
City and Victory will lock horns in an all-Melbourne final.
It’s hard to tell which way this will swing, but you can bet on both sides going for the jugular.
We’re still a week away from the final, but betting activities are already going off the charts after the best bookmakers published odds on the showpiece event.
Victory are no strangers to the big stage.
They have won the title four times, although their seven-year drought may have played a part in the bookies tagging them outsiders.
These two sides couldn’t be separated in their last two meetings.
Five of their last eight games have ended in draws, but Victory have come out on top in the other three.
You have to go back to December 2022 for the last time City beat their rivals, but form rarely matters when there’s silverware up for grabs.
City are chasing another title, but Victory will aim to spoil the party and claim derby bragging rights on the biggest stage of all.
14°C