Melbourne Victory are no strangers to the big occasion and A-League grand finals.
But Tuesday night’s Asian Champions League round of 16 tie is unfamiliar territory for the three-time A-League champions, who will take on Asia’s best in the knockout rounds for the first time in five attempts.
Victory achieved the feat courtesy of a second-place finish in Group G with home wins against Shanghai SIPG (China) and Gamba Osaka (Japan) as well as an away draw against Gamba and two versus Jeonbuk’s K-League counterpart Suwon Bluewings.
And the magnitude of Tuesday night’s first and home leg against Korean powerhouse Jeonbuk Motors has not been lost on captain Carl Valeri, who says the clash is being treated by his club as a grand final.
“It is (a grand final),” Valeri said.
“It’ll be a different one, it’s home and away, but our main focus is on tomorrow night and putting in a performance. Like the boss said, we’ve trained well all week, we’ve used those extra days wisely and we’ve worked on some things that will help us for tomorrow night’s challenge.
“It’s extremely important. It’s important for me personally, it’s important for the club, it’s important for everyone.
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“It’s the furtherest we’ve gone in the Asian Champions League. We’ve just got to break it down and put in the performance which we’ll always look to do and that’s what we’ll be doing tomorrow night.
“Obviously there’s always a little bit more … you always give a little bit more in finals, it’s always more intense, you always manage to dig that little bit deeper.
“We’re very happy we got through. We want to go further and it’s all going to start tomorrow night. I’ve got to put myself aside and put in the right performance to give myself the right result on the night.”
Victory will have to get the job done across two legs, but Victory boss Kevin Muscat insisted he will be treating each match on its own merits with no stone left unturned against the reigning K-League champions.
“I find it hard to look at it any other way than a one-off game tomorrow night, we’ve prepared in isolation for a home game.
“It’s a two legged tie, but we’ve prepared well for a home tie, to really put on pressure in the outset, make Jeonbuk earn everything they get here in our home. We know it’s going to be exactly the same in the opposite way in seven days time.
“We’ve had an extensive look at them. I went across to South Korea last week to watch a game against Suwon. They’re a good team, they’ve got some strengths naturally in that front third: Lopez and Leonardo, these guys in transition are very fast and they’ve got a Lee Dong-gook, who is an exceptional player and has a decorated career. He brings them into play into the game very well, so it’s going to be an all mighty challenge for us.
“If there’s any concern or worries about having the longest period without a game, it’s certainly been dispelled in the last few days … we look forward to a great challenge tomorrow night.”
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