A-League Week 17 2025: Juan Mata injured as Western Sydney Wanderers win 1-0 over Brisbane Roar

Playing to keep their finals hopes alive, the Wanderers have avoided a third straight loss to beat the Brisbane Roar. But the win has come at a massive cost. See the latest news.

Western Sydney Wanderers’ 1-0 win over A-League cellar-dwellers Brisbane Roar has come at a cost, with Spanish star Juan Mata limping off early with a hamstring injury.

Mata, 36, lasted only 11 minutes at Suncorp Stadium on Friday night before being forced off with an injury that must have the former Manchester United and Chelsea midfielder in doubt for next Saturday’s derby against Sydney FC at Allianz Stadium.

“We were agonising over it a little bit, but it’s probably better to be precautionary at this stage,” Wanderers coach Alen Stajcic told Paramount Plus.

“He felt it early … it might be a one or two-week (injury).”

While Mata’s time on the park was short, he had enough to make a telling contribution with a well-placed eighth-minute corner that was headed home by Bulgarian attacking midfielder Bozhidar Kraev.

Wanderers star Juan Mata suffered a hamstring injury in their win over the Brisbane Roar. Picture: Getty Images

The win was a relief for a Wanderers side that had gone into the contest desperate to avoid a third successive defeat.

For the Roar – who went into the match on the back of their first win of the season, a 4-3 away victory over Sydney FC – the defeat continued the club’s miserable home record, which has now extended to a ninth straight loss.

The loss also spoiled Brisbane veteran’s Scott Neville’s 300th and final A-League appearance, with the former Wanderers defender having announced on Thursday that he was retiring after the match.

Roar captain Jay O’Shea, while disappointed with his team’s performance he described as “just not good enough”, paid tribute to Neville.

“He’s one of the best professionals I’ve ever worked with,” O’Shea said.

In a match played in steamy conditions and on a pitch affected by two recent music concerts, the Wanderers had a host of other first-half chances, with Brisbane needing good saves from goalkeeper Macklin Freke to deny Western Sydney trio Zac Sapsford, Brandon Borrello and the returning Gabriel Cleur.

The win was a relief for the Wanderers, who avoided a third straight defeat to keep their finals hopes alive. Picture: Getty Images

Borrello did have the ball in the back of the net in the 39th minute via a shot that deflected off Roar defender Hosine Bility.

However, Borrello was ruled to have fouled Brisbane’s other centre-back Lucas Herrington before shooting, dashing the Wanderers’ hopes of doubling their leads before halftime.

The Wanderers were again left frustrated after again thinking they had scored a second goal, this time in the 72nd minute, through attacker Nicolas Milanovic.

However, VAR intervention came to the Roar’s aid, with Sapsford correctly ruled to be off-side before laying the ball into Milanovic’s path.

But in the end a second goal wasn’t needed.

“They’re a hard team to play, especially at home, so credit to the boys, and we kept a clean sheet,” Milanovic said.

“There’s a big game next week and it’s important that we got a win this week.”

CLEARANCE FARCE DELAYS DEBUT

Brisbane’s hopes of giving new signing Nathan Amanatidis his Roar debut were dashed, with his clearance from his former club Sydney FC arriving too late to allow the 19-year-old winger to be named in Brisbane’s match-day squad.

It was a blight on both the Roar and Sydney that Amanatidis wasn’t cleared in time for the game considering the teenager signed with the Queensland club – which didn’t play last weekend – more than a week ago.

Originally published as A-League Week 17 2025: Juan Mata injured as Western Sydney Wanderers win 1-0 over Brisbane Roar