Key events
17 mins: Victory are furious with a Ugarkovic challenge in midfield. He wins the ball, but with his studs up sliding into Bos, who takes a whack for his troubles. The referee calms things down and keeps his cards in his pocket. He gets a spray from Arzani soon afterwards when he’s pinged for a clear foul on Leckie.
16 mins: In transition City get the ball in that same left channel again and Behich scoots over a tempting cross but there’s nobody steaming onto it in the box and Duncan gathers.
14 mins: Ugarkovic has settled City in the middle of the park but a promising move down the right ends when Arzani tracks back to rob Atkinson, then threaten to break inside the City fullback before he’s brought down. The Socceroo winger has been very bright.
12 mins: Miranda goes down “professionally” after Kuen trod on the defender’s foot late. Chance for Victory to regroup after that early setback.
GOAL! Melbourne City 1-0 Melbourne Victory (Cohen, 10)
It’s been all Victory early on but it’s City who strike first! A dink from Trewin into the left channel finds the onrushing Behich. He finds Kuen, who pulls the ball back for Caputo to stab against the bar, but the ball rebounds kindly for Cohen to hammer home.
9 mins: City are not yet at the races. Another spell of passing across the back four ends with Trewin spraying a long diagonal straight out of play.
7 mins: City are starting to get on the ball in defence, but Tilio is robbed on halfway and Victory counter with purpose. Tilio caught Santos in his bid to regain possession and the Victory star returns to his feet a little gingerly.
5 mins: The camera cuts to a pensive Aurelio Vidmar, who is rocking late career Rafael Nadal levels of hairline chutzpah. His City side have settled, but Victory remain on the front foot. Arzani is very busy, popping up on the right touchline now only to turn away from his marker and into touch.
3 mins: The corner is good and a snapshot is blocked. Arzani then has another dribble, this time to the byline, but his cutback is cleared. Machach then has a dart towards goal. Victory have started very brightly.
Behind play Ferreyra is a tad groggy after wearing that previous Machach effort on his scone.
2 mins: 30 seconds of 50:50s in the middle of the park indicate the nerves on display, but Arzani quickly shows his class, playing the ball to the left then following up for the return pass, skinning Atkinson on the touchline and driving towards the box. Nothing comes of it, but Victory have a corner soon afterwards when Beach horribly miscontrols and lets the ball run under his foot. Yikes!
Kick-off!
The 2025 A-League Men grand final is under way…
The match ball is delivered onto the field by a diddy remote controlled ISUZU Ute. Early player of the match contender.
There’s a hum around AAMI Park, the kind that you only hear on major sporting occasions. Tens of thousands of people unable to contain their nervous energy. The background noise is welcome as a beautiful a cappella rendition of the national anthem is distorted somewhat by an effects mic too close to one of the players, who is singing heroically flat and without any hint of gusto.
Here come the two sides along the AAMI Park race. Victory all in navy blue, City in sky blue shirts and white shorts. The past ten minutes or so have contained an elaborate son et lumière, culminating in club legends Leigh Broxham and Jamie Maclaren placing the A-League championship toilet seat onto a plinth.
Tonight’s team of officials is led by A-League referee of the year Adam Kersey. George Lakrindis and Emma Kockek will run the lines, Shaun Evans will bear the brunt of both coaches’ anger as the fourth official, with Lara Lee operating VAR.
Conditions are perfect in Melbourne. It’s been dry and still all day, and despite the temperature dropping into single figures, the full house under lights at AAMI Park will make for a fiery atmosphere.
For City, Mat Leckie is fit to start so Ale Lopane moves to the bench. Lawrence Wong is among the subs after missing last week with a wrist injury.
For Victory, Nishan Velupillay has not proven his fitness, but Kasey Bos does make the starting XI. Mitch Langerak is on the bench and a potential matchwinner if the game goes to penalties.
City (4-1-3-2)
33 Beach
13 Atkinson, 22 Ferreyra, 27 Trewin, 16 Behich (c)
6 Ugarkovic
7 Leckie, 30 Kuen, 23 Tilio
17 Caputo, 10 Cohen
Victory (4-2-3-1)
25 Duncan
28 Bos, 4 Jackson, 21 Miranda (c), 22 Rawlins
6 Teague, 14 Valadon
11 Santos, 8 Machach, 7 Arzani
10 Fornaroli
Melbourne Victory XI
Melbourne City XI
Mathew Leckie is 𝐈𝐍! 🔥
📋 He’s back in midfield with Ale Lopane moving to the bench, while Lawrence Wong also returns amongst the subs after missing last week with a wrist injury.#ALeagueGF | #MelbDerby pic.twitter.com/0HNY94qi68
— Melbourne City FC (@MelbourneCity) May 31, 2025
Martin Pegan sets the scene:
Australian football has been here many times before, with visions of a grand spectacle that might reignite the passion of casual observers. The Mariners’ back-to-back championship triumphs will live long in the memory but so too does the last time Victory and City met under the glare of the spotlight in the wake of the Socceroos’ stirring 2022 World Cup campaign. With fans railing against the APL’s decision to break with tradition and hold three grand finals in Sydney – a deal that would have concluded with this year’s decider – the Melbourne derby descended into humiliating chaos when spectators invaded the pitch and forced the match to be abandoned for player safety reasons.
This time, with no new clouds hanging over the competition and the grand final being given clear air in Melbourne, the focus can turn to matters on the pitch and a tussle between two evenly matched teams playing for more than just championship glory.
Plenty of pyro and police on the streets of Melbourne this evening.
Preamble
Jonathan Howcroft
Hello everybody and welcome to live coverage of the A-League Men grand final between Melbourne City and Melbourne Victory. Kick-off at AAMI Park is 7.40pm.
It’s the biggest night on the domestic football calendar and the biggest night for club football in Melbourne in the A-League era. There’s still an awful lot wrong with the game in Australia and the cut-through of the local competition but it’s events like this that have the potential to show how the A-League can thrive.
City have been building for this moment all season. A fifth grand final in six years comes as no surprise to a squad that has only spent one week outside the top six on the ladder, and finished their premiership campaign with seven wins from 11 matches. Their semi-final was a two-legged affair, but was over after one when they put three unanswered goals past Western United.
Victory, by contrast, have come from the clouds to make it this far. They didn’t win a match between rounds eight and 15 as they came to terms with the departure of manager Patrick Kisnorbo, but his former assistant Arthur Diles picked up the baton and turned Victory into one of the form teams of the second half of the season. Even so, they still had to win away at the higher ranked Western Sydney Wanderers in the first week of the finals, and then overturn a 1-0 first-leg deficit in their semi-final away at premiership winners Auckland FC.
Victory will fancy their chances of their underdog run continuing. A nominal away fixture, they will have the majority of the crowd at the sold out AAMI Park behind them. And they have not lost any of the past eight derbies – a record stretching back to the shameful night in December 2022 when Victory fans invaded the pitch and attacked City goalkeeper Tom Glover. A-League bosses will be praying to all the Gods such scenes are not repeated tonight.
