Victory rain on Sydney FC’s homecoming parade | VinceRugari
Melbourne Victory has crashed Sydney FC’s long-awaited homecoming, with a second-half raid spearheaded by former Manchester United star Luis Nani and fringe Socceroo Chris Ikonomidis steering them to a thrilling 3-2 win at the new Allianz Stadium.
Nani, 35, had an otherwise quiet night but like all world-class players, even those past their prime, he only needed half an opportunity to make his presence felt - and so he did in the 67th minute, producing a beautifully weighted ground ball to the back post as Victory mounted a rapid counter-attack.
“Not great, obviously,” Corica said. “We wanted the game to continue. They just slowed everything down. That’s obviously slowing the game down, they did it quite well. But obviously, we don’t want bottles on the field.”After a disappointing campaign for Victory last season, this was a timely performance from Ikonomidis in front of Socceroos coach Graham Arnold, who would have also been impressed with the showings from Nick D’Agostino and Ben Folami as the duo combined for Melbourne’s first goal.
For Nani, the new face of the A-League, it was a solid start to life in Australia. He was targeted with respectful boos from The Cove throughout the match, was brought off with around 20 minutes to go, and was mobbed by two young pitch-invading fans as he conducted his post-game interview on Network 10. Popovic was delighted with his performance, describing his assist as “class”, and also loved Victory’s fightback.