Perth Glory teammates anoint Diego Castro as A-League’s GOAT

Is Perth Glory’s Diego Castro the A-League’s greatest of all time?

Diego Castro, second from right, trains with Perth Glory at Optus Stadium on Wednesday. Picture: Getty Images

Is Diego Castro the A-League’s GOAT?

In the eyes of Perth Glory players, the answer is a resounding yes.

The A-League has been blessed by the presence of some mega stars in world soccer. Alessandro Del Piero and Dwight Yorke were arguably the two biggest names to grace the competition, while fellow imports Thomas Broich, Milos Ninkovic and Besart Berisha have also left a lasting impression.

But in terms of prolonged brilliance, it’s hard to go past Castro as the greatest of all time.

There are, of course, still some people who disagree. But if Castro can produce a matchwinning display against Sydney in Sunday’s grand final, his case to be the A-League’s GOAT will become almost undeniable.

Former Glory coach Kenny Lowe clearly recalls the moment he first saw highlights of Castro. It was in 2015 when the club was searching for a star import to sign.

“I saw a video of him playing against Real Madrid and Barcelona and I started laughing,” Lowe said. “I went, ‘He’s not coming to us. Is he crazy?’”

Not only did Castro come in 2015, but he hasn’t left, and recently signed a two-year contract extension.

At 36 years old, Castro should be winding down. Instead, the man dubbed “El Maestro” has produced arguably his best season. If it wasn’t for the seven games he missed through injury, Castro would have been a shoo-in to win a second Johnny Warren medal.

The Spaniard finished just three votes behind Wellington’s Roy Krishna, despite playing six fewer games.

Glory goalkeeper Liam Reddy has no doubt Castro is the A-League’s greatest ever player.

“Diego is the best player in the competition and has been for a number of years,” Reddy said.

“He’s a tremendous footballer, he’s a tremendous leader of us.

“He leads with actions, and the way he plays and trains … you feel very confident going into a game with a player like that.”

Glory defender Shane Lowry also rated Castro as the league’s best.

“He seems to get better with age,” Lowry said. “He’s such a hard working player as well. It’s not just the skills and the tricks.

“People don’t see the movement off the ball, the running, the defending. He keeps his body in tip-top shape.”

Meanwhile, Perth players say a pumping crowd will more than make up for the loss of their traditional home ground on Sunday.

More than 46,000 tickets have already been sold for the match at Optus Stadium, and the crowd figure is set to soar towards the 55,000 mark by game day. The current record for an A-League grand final is 55,436 for Melbourne Victory’s crushing 6-0 win over Adelaide United in the 2006/07 decider. The record for any A-League fixture is the 61,880 who witnessed for Sydney’s 4-0 win over Western Sydney at ANZ Stadium in October 2016.

Optus Stadium has a capacity of 60,000, but FFA don’t expect Sunday’s grand final to reach that figure and have ruled out installing extra seats at the ground.

Perth have built a formidable record at their regular home ground of HBF Park this season; winning 11, drawing two, and losing just two.

But with the venue only able to hold just over 20,000 fans, it was a no-brainer for FFA to move the grand final to the $1.6 billion Optus Stadium.

Glory legend Bobby Despotovski blasted FFA’s decision, and club owner Tony Sage also expressed concern about his team losing some home ground advantage. But the players themselves aren’t worrying one bit.

“From a player’s perspective, the biggest advantage was that we stayed in Perth,” Glory defender Jason Davidson said.

“We didn’t have to travel. We like playing at home in front of our fans.

“Playing in front of 60-odd thousand Glory fans is going to be something to cherish. And hopefully it will be a great grand final and hopefully a great party on Sunday night.”

Glory veteran Dino Djulbic agreed.

“All I can think of is 50 to 60 thousand people being there,” Djulbic said. “For me that’s enough. It’s good that it’s in Perth.

“I thrive when there’s so many people there. Even if they’re not for us it wouldn’t really bother me. For me I’m happy to be playing at Optus.”

Glory have already played one match at Optus Stadium — a 1-0 loss to EPL powerhouse Chelsea in July last year.

Perth trained at the venue on Wednesday, and coach Tony Popovic said his players were ready to shine.

“There’s a lot of bounce in the ground. That’s a little bit expected,” Popovic said.

“But we got accustomed to it (on Wednesday). We got a feel of the pitch.

“The players now know what to expect, and come Sunday there’ll be no surprises.”

AAP