Alessandro Del Piero celebrated his 39th birthday with a much-needed three points for 10-man Sydney FC as the Italian striker’s first-half penalty sealed a 3-2 win over Melbourne Victory at Allianz Stadium on Saturday.
Del Piero found the net just before halftime to settle an eventful game where all five goals were scored in the first half, and end a run of three straight A-League defeats for the Sky Blues.
An entertaining opening 45 minutes was kick-started by Richard Garcia’s third-minute strike after Mark Milligan miscued a header following a long punt forward by Vedran Janjetovic.
The former Hull City and West Ham winger skipped past the onrushing Nathan Coe and rolled the ball into the empty net to end a five-hour goal drought for the Sky Blues.
Seb Ryall then doubled the home side’s lead seven minutes later in bizarre fashion when Ali Abbas’ excellent corner was headed into his face by Victory defender Adama Trarore and flew past the helpless Coe.
The goal left Ryall with blood streaming from his nose and, while he was receiving treatment off the field, the visitors immediately took advantage of their temporary numerical advantage when the evergreen Archie Thompson turned in Connor Pain’s low, left-wing cross to cut the deficit.
After a listless start, the goal woke up Kevin Muscat’s side and they soon found themselves playing against 10 men for the remainder of the game when Marc Warren was shown a straight red card after tugging back Pain when he was through on goal.
The fullback could have no complaints with the decision after getting on the wrong side of the lively 19-year-old winger and stopping him in his tracks.
From the resulting free-kick, the Victory equalised when Milligan’s low effort came off the heels of Ryall and wrong footed Janjetovic.
A shellshocked Sydney found themselves on the back foot as their old rivals pressed forward with Milligan blasting wide from close range following a superb chipped delivery over the top of home defence from Mitch Nicholls.
But out of nothing, Frank Farina’s men were awarded a penalty just before halftime won by the wily Del Piero.
The former Juventus striker used all of his experience to draw the foul from Pablo Contreras who clambered all over him as he tried to latch onto Brett Emerton’s hopeful cross.
It left referee Peter Green with a simple decision to make and the Italian World Cup winner made no mistake for his second goal of the season.
The second half was dominated by the Victory, but Sydney’s defence held firm thanks to two good saves by Janjetovic to deny Thompson and Trarore.
Are you the ultimate team manager? Pick your own superstar team and go head to head with other football fans for glory and cash prizes on Draftstars. Imagine what you could be buying instead. Set a deposit limit.
Two non-penalties and a denied goal had Ufuk Talay furious as Sydney FC crashed out of the semi-finals.
So the Mariners enter the second leg of their A-League semi-final against the Sky Blues in the box seat and the Phoenix hold home-ground…
It will be a bumper occasion, there will not be a spare seat in the house and of course, Sydney FC could well produce a miracle with their backs against the wall.
The Sky Blues took the lead at home but couldn't hold on as the Mariners came back to claim a 2-1 win in the first leg of the semifinal.
Just four teams remain in the hunt for the 2023/24 A-League Championship and the action will be intense in the opening legs of the…
Cameron Burgess scored the winner to confirm Ipswich’s status as a Premier League club.
