Sydney FC decide against sending Douglas Costa and Andrew Redmayne to Hong Kong

Rather than risk injury, Sydney FC has opted to fly to Hong Kong for an AFC Champions League Two match without two key players.

Douglas Costa hasn’t travelled to Hong Kong with his teammates. Picture: Mark Metcalfe/Getty Images

Sydney FC has travelled to Hong Kong for Thursday night’s AFC Champions League Two clash with Eastern SC without Brazilian star Douglas Costa and goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne, as Sky Blues coach Ufuk Talay opts to manage his squad.

The Sydneysides should book themselves a berth in the competition’s knockout stages with a win over an Eastern side they beat 5-0 when the teams met at Jubilee Stadium in September.

Former Juventus and Bayern Munich winger Costa made his return from a hamstring tendon injury in Sydney’s 4-2 A-League weekend win over Western Sydney Wanderers at Allianz Stadium.

And despite emerging unscathed during his 45 minutes on the park, Costa was left at home this week rather than be sent to Hong Kong.

“I didn’t think it was going to benefit him to travel 10 hours on a flight and then travel 10 hours back,” Talay said.

“We thought it would be better if he stayed behind to keep improving and strengthening his hamstring.”

Sydney doesn’t have an A-League match this weekend, but have another Champions League Two clash next Thursday at home next Thursday night against Filipino outfit Kaya FC.

Meet Hong Kong based Sydney FC fan, Chris 👋

In 2011 he graduated @Macquarie_Uni and during his time in Australia, he supported us and his favourite player was Rhyan Grant 🔷

Since then, he has followed the club from afar and tonight he met Rhyan and the team at the airport 13… pic.twitter.com/FUaEPnojnh

— Sydney FC (@SydneyFC) November 26, 2024

However, should the Sky Blues’ spot in the knockout stages be already secured, it’s likely they will delay Costa’s return until Sunday week’s A-League battle against the Central Coast Mariners in Gosford.

Talay has taken a similarly cautious approach with 35-year-old custodian Redmayne, who is feeling “sore” after a collision with teammate Joe Lolley during last Saturday’s win over the Wanderers.

“`Redders’ is one who will never miss a training session or a game because he’s sore but he’s definitely feeling it now from that challenge with Joe, so we’ve made the decision to leave `Redders’ at home to recover and to make sure he’s available moving forward,” Talay said.

In Redmayne’s absence, Harrison Devenish-Meares will start between the posts against Eastern.

“We’ve got three very good goalkeepers and all three could play in any of the competitions that we play in,” Talay said.

Talay has several options to replace Costa in Sydney’s starting team, with Germany-born former Morocco under-23 international Anas Ouahim – who starred off the bench after replacing Costa against the Wanderers – the most likely candidate.

“We’ll make the decision hopefully before training, and then see at training how the boys pull up and how they move,” he said.

Originally published as Sydney FC decide against sending Douglas Costa and Andrew Redmayne to Hong Kong