Melbourne Victory v Sydney FC as big as it gets in A-League

The two biggest clubs in Australian soccer will go head to head in a Big Blue semi-final on Sunday.

Melbourne Victory’s Kevin Muscat is chasing his third A-League title as a coach having also won two as a player. Picture: Getty Images

They have beaten Melbourne Victory in two grand finals, but Sydney FC will still have to overcome the Kevin Muscat factor if they are to join the Victorians as the most successful club in A-League history.

The two biggest clubs in Australian soccer will go head to head in a Big Blue semi-final at Netstrata Jubilee Stadium on Sunday with the winner to advance to the grand final on May 18 or 19.

If the history between the two clubs is any indication, we can expect another remarkable chapter to be added to the intense rivalry that has developed since the A-League kicked off in 2005.

Victory will be chasing the chance to win a fifth championship, having won in 2007, 2009, 2015 and last year. Sydney will be looking for a fourth, having won in 2006, 2010 and 2017.

History also awaits Muscat, who won the title twice as a player with Victory and now twice as coach. If he claims a third championship as coach he will eclipse Ernie Merrick, Ange Postecoglou and Graham Arnold, who all have two titles.

The former Socceroo has made his mark as a coach since taking over from Postecoglou, who left to take up the Socceroos job just three rounds into the 2013-14 season.

While Muscat has won just one Premiers Plate (2014-15 season), he has led Victory to three grand finals in his five seasons, including the past two.

Victory created history last season when they became the first team to come from outside the top two to win the championship.

But it is his record against the Sky Blues in the end-of-season games that is the real eye-opener. Muscat has clearly had the wood on Sydney, winning three of the four times they have played, including for the 2015 title.

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Interestingly, while Sydney beat Victory in the 2010 and 2017 grand finals — both on penalties — they have never beaten them in regular or extra time in their seven finals encounters.

Of all the playoff encounters, few will forget last year’s epic semi-final at Allianz Stadium when Graham Arnold’s record-breaking side, which had secured back-to-back Premiers Plates, the first to do so in the A-League era, went into the game as firm favourites.

Victory actually “scored” all five goals (two own goals) in a remarkable 3-2 extra time win that saw Terry Antonis, who had put the ball into his own net to make it 2-2 with just seconds left in normal time, turn from villain to hero with a late winner.

That game simply amplified just how little there has been between the two sides over the years, but particularly during the past five years.

In the last 13 times they have played, only once has the game been decided by more than one goal — when Sydney won 3-1 in January 2018.

This season Muscat’s men have twice won 2-1, while Steve Corica led his side to a 2-1 win the last time they met in round 24 at the Sydney Cricket Ground when Muscat hit out at the state of the playing surface.

Interestingly, both sides have to contend with Asian Champions League games in South Korea this week — Sydney play Ulsan tomorrow night and Victory play Daegu FC on Tuesday.

The Sky Blues, who are still in contention to make the knockout stage, will have a slight advantage. They will be back in Sydney on Thursday morning, 24 hours ahead of Victory.

However, with Melbourne out of contention for the next stage, Muscat is travelling to Korea with an understrength squad of just 15 players, with key players such as Keisuke Honda, Ol–a Toivonen, Kosta Barbarouses, Georg Niedermeier, James Troisi, Raul Baena and Antonis staying behind.

Thomas Deng, James Donachie and Elvis Kamsoba are the only players who started against Wellington Phoenix last Friday night in the squad, along with substitutes Storm Roux and Kenny Athiu.