Muscat shrugs off Sydney’s taunts

ON the eve of their titanic Big Blue A-League semifinal, Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat has fired back at a week of Sydney FC taunts, suggesting they’ve made a rod for their own back.

You can understand why the Sky Blues might be confident, with a secondstraight premiership in the bag and seven-straight wins over Victory. That, of course, includes last year’s grand final, won on penalties, at Allianz Stadium, the scene of Saturday night’s battle.

Sydney captain Alex Brosque suggested his club had a mental stranglehold over Victory, while Michael Zullo said the Sky Blues also had a physical edge.

Muscat replied yesterday, upping the stakes.

“What it has done is created a whole lot of expectation, hasn’t it?” he said. “Just imagine if they lose.

“The expectation has been created, it certainly hasn’t been created from us.”

The wry smile on Muscat’s face as he suggested a Sydney FC bottle-job indicates two things: the animosity between the two clubs and that he believes it’s possible.

Victory are convinced that seven-game losing streak is a case of statistics not telling the whole story: five of those losses were by a single goal and the grand final defeat came courtesy of a shootout.

Their last meeting came a fortnight ago, a 1-0 loss, when Victory had the majority of the play.

After finishing the season with eight wins, Muscat genuinely believes it might be a case of eighth time lucky.

“All our work and energy’s been based on putting everything into a game plan to go across there, into enemy territory, and beat them,” he said. “We’ve got a proven track record in these big encounters. I lick my lips about it; I can’t wait.”

It’s about winning what Muscat expects will be a fiercely fought battle.