When it comes to showmen with the ball, the A-League has witnessed some truly classy players.
From the likes of Marcos Flores at Adelaide, to the continuous source of masterful displays that is Thomas Broich at Brisbane Roar and more recently, the brilliance of Aaron Mooy at Melbourne City, there has been no shortage of names who love stealing the spotlight. Melbourne Victory has seen two of the very best midfield maestros in the league’s history don the navy blue though, in the form of Carlos Hernandez and Gui Finkler.
These two players lit up, and continue to light up the pitch, dazzling Victory and opposition fans alike with their silky skills and free-kick taking abilities. The two never played together and thanks to the similarities in their game the question has been raised – who is better?
Who scored more goals? Who brought more to the team? Who provided more spark? Who was always able to provide for the team when they needed it most?
Hernandez made 121 appearances for the Melbourne Victory and recorded 36 goals. He is third on the Victory’s all time scorers’ list, with a goals to games ratio of 0.3. The Costa Rican was a clinical finisher, he regularly made sure the space he was in was the right place, holding-off on runs to receive a teammate’s cutback from 12-yards out, or finding just enough space from well outside the area to get that shot away.
There was a flair to Hernandez’s game, an unpredictability that made him so entertaining to watch. He became Victory’s dead ball specialist and scored seven of his 36 goals from set pieces – 19% of all his goals came from free-kick situations.
Hernandez was so vitally important to Victory and he showed it on various occasions. Some of his greatest work came in the finals series of season 2008-09. In the two-legged major semi-final against Adelaide United, in which the Victory put six goals past the Reds, Hernandez scored in the 2-0 away leg, before playing a part in all four goals in the return leg with three assists, also getting his own name on the scoresheet again.
Watching Hernandez’s highlight reel is stunning and one cannot help but marvel at some of his goals. You find yourself oohing and aahing at the outrageousness of those strikes, finding it hard to believe that he would have the audacity to attempt the shots, let alone pull them off.
Finkler has made 75 appearances for Melbourne Victory in the A-League with 19 goals to his name. In his fourth season with the club, he is sixth on the club’s top scorers list and has a goals to games ratio of 0.27.
Both his appearance and goals tallies would be much higher if not for his knee reconstruction at the start of 2013 after rupturing his ACL in his first year at the club. He not only missed the rest of the 2012-13 season, but played around half of the following season in an impact role off the bench, as he went about building confidence and match fitness.
Despite playing only 12 games in his debut season before the injury, he led the league for assists with eight – an incredible feat for a player new to the league.
The Brazilian is consistently providing the assists – recording 12 last season, including one in the grand final. Beyond just creating goals, Finkler knows his was around a set piece with 21% of his 19 goals – four in total – coming from free-kicks.
Finkler has always exuded class. He always pops up at the right time when Victory need him most, whether that be with a late goal – eight of his have come after the 75th minute – or stepping up to provide the goals when they could not be found elsewhere. There is a carefulness to Finkler’s game – his actions are calculated and deliberate. There is an expectation of quality and he rarely disappoints.
For all their similarities, there is one key difference which stands out above others when it comes to the playing style of these two – Finkler thinks, Hernandez does.
So, when deciding who is better what factors take precedence over others?
Hernandez played for longer and during a time in which Victory didn’t have a prolific goal scoring striker, as evidenced by him being the club’s stop scorer in two of his five seasons with the club; in 2009-10 and 2011-12. Finkler has never been relied on as a primary goal scorer in his three years at the club but has scored more set pieces and provided more assists.
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