As it happened: Klimala upstages marquee names as Sydney FC dominates derby

Striker Patryk Klimala has upstaged the big-name imports of the A-League Men off-season by leading Sydney FC to a 2-1 win over the Western Sydney Wanderers.

All eyes were on Sydney winger Douglas Costa and Wanderers recruit Juan Mata in Saturday’s season opener but Klimala stole the show with an assist and the decisive goal. Foreign strikers usually take a while to acclimatise to the ALM but already Klimala looks the goods and the Polish forward was a thorn in the Wanderers’ side throughout the 90 minutes.

Douglas Costa leads the celebrations for Sydney FC.Credit: Getty Images

The former Celtic frontman set up Joe Lolley for Sydney’s opener and then turned in the winner in the 63rd minute.

Costa was solid - his cross was the catalyst for Klimala’s opener - and the Brazilian gave the CommBank Stadium crowd a glimpse of his fleet-footed skill.

Mata was not brought into the game until the second half and the Spaniard was unable to really stamp his authority in a stint that lasted a little over half an hour - the most he has played in close to 18 months.

The only downside for Sydney was a late straight red card for Max Burgess for a lazy tackle on Ben Holliday. But other than a nervy final 10 minutes, Ufuk Talay’s men were dominant and controlled proceedings.

Under the eye of Socceroos coach Tony Popovic, Sydney leftback Jordan Courtney-Perkins was impressive and he set the wheels in motion for Lolley’s 16th minute opener.

Courtney-Perkins played the ball into Klimala, who drew the attention of Wanderers centrebacks Jeong Tae-uk and Alex Bonetig.

Klimala craftily slipped the ball away to Lolley who had no problems firing past Western Sydney goalkeeper Tristan Vidackovic.

The Wanderers lacked penetration and it wasn’t until the introduction of former Wellington man Bozhidar Kraev in the second half that they began to show some spark. Kraev triggered the move which led to the Wanderers’ equaliser as stand-in captain Brandon Borrello squared the ball to Aydan Hammond. The homegrown youngster tucked past Andrew Redmayne from the edge of the box just as Mata was getting ready to come on.

But any excitement over Hammond’s lifeline and Mata’s introduction evaporated quickly. The Spaniard’s first act as a Wanderers players was watching the ball sail into the back of the net as Costa’s cross was flicked on by Hayden Matthews towards Klimala. The Polish striker turned the ball home and nearly added a second goal to his tally when he rattled the woodwork not long afterwards.

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Sydney FC players celebrate with Patryk Klimala, who scored a goal and set up their other.Credit: Getty Images

And there’s the final whistle. Game over. The Sky Blues win, and deservedly so. They were all over the Wanderers from the get-go tonight, although they had to do it tough, with Max Burgess’ late red card reducing them to 10 men and giving the home side a glimmer of hope.

But in the fair dinkum department, Sydney FC were absolutely the better side tonight, and looked far sharper - perhaps a product of their involvement in the AFC Champions League 2, which has given them competitive matches much earlier than their crosstown rivals.

Joe Lolley opened the scoring in the 17th minute, courtesy of Patryk Klimala’s glancing header - and had Sydney taken their chances, they would have been further than just 1-0 up at half-time. That allowed Aydan Hammond to square things up in the 56th minute, pouncing on a fairly fortunate loose ball, but parity only lasted seven minutes until Klimala produced his first A-League goal to put Sydney 2-1 in front. And that’s how it finished up.

...and it’s gone begging. A cross from the right found Nicholas Milanovic, who peeled away from his marker at the backpost and could have squared things up, only for his header to go straight into Andrew Redmayne’s grateful hands from close range. One of their best chances tonight, and you’d imagine that will probably be that.

Wanderers 1-2 Sydney FC, 90+6 minutes

He’s just been withdrawn and replaced by Joel King as Ufuk Talay looks to finish this one off safely. Costa is hobbling off after copping a strong tackle, but he doesn’t look injured - just a little bruised, you’d say. He has, however, suggested there is some sort of tightness in his right hamstring. Let’s hope it’s just that.

Anyhow, the assistant referee has just shown that there will be seven minutes of added time to come. So plenty of scope for the Wanderers to pinch another equaliser, if they’re good enough...

Wanderers 1-2 Sydney FC, 90+1 minutes

Only minutes after coming on, Max Burgess has been shown a straight red card for a crude challenge on Ben Holliday! Wow. VAR will review that but on first glance… he went a little harder than he needed to. Holliday had already passed the ball when contact was made and it looked totally accidental. It wasn’t so much a tackle, he stamped on his foot, and he didn’t mean to, but that’s a red.

So Sydney FC will have to see this out with 10 men. Not long to go now...

Wanderers 1-2 Sydney FC, 89 minutes

The Wanderers finally get another shot off, but it’s wide of the mark by their skipper Brandon Borrello, who has toiled hard up front tonight without much reward.

Meanwhile, a change for Sydney FC: the excellent Leo Sena has been replaced by Max Burgess.

And one for the Wanderers, with Borrello coming off and Marcus Antonsson coming on too. Oh, and that Scicluna-Holliday change we mentioned earlier? That just happened now.

Wanderers 1-2 Sydney FC, 85 minutes

Alen Stajcic has turned to his bench again, making a double substitution: Dylan Scicluna and Gabriel Cleur are off, and on comes Dean Pelekanos and Ben Holliday, both coming on for their A-League debuts. Can they make the difference?

Wanderers 1-2 Sydney FC, 77 minutes