Brisbane Roar coach Mike Mulvey is treading carefully ahead of the A-League champions’ reunion with former spearhead Besart Berisha on Friday night.
The volatile Berisha will face his old club for the first time at Etihad Stadium when he lines up for his sixth match for Melbourne Victory, looking for his sixth goal.
The Albanian international, a key figure in the Roar’s 2012 and 2014 titles, says he’s unsure whether he’ll celebrate if he finds the back of the net.
While praising Berisha for his three-season Brisbane stint, a stonewalling Mulvey dodged questions about how his team’s knowledge of the striker’s game would help neutralise the former Golden Boot winner.
“I think you can get carried away with one person in any team and you can do so at the detriment of team performance,” he said.
“I think that’s the key thing, to make sure we do our own job all over the park.”
Mulvey said he had every faith his players would handle the Victory’s attacking threats in what he admitted was the toughest current assignment in the A-League.
But he refused to answer whether Berisha’s name had come up more than any other Victory player in team meetings this week.
“He gave great service to the club and I thank him from the bottom of my heart for what he did for the club because he brought great success here but he’s moved on for a new challenge and we look forward to seeing him on Friday night,” the Roar coach said.
Victory counterpart Kevin Muscat admitted Berisha wasn’t as vibrant as usual in the build-up to the clash, a repeat of last season’s semi-final thriller, in a sign of his respect for his former club.
“He’s possibly been a little bit quiet over the last day or two,” he said.
“I dare say he’ll want to get a good result for his current football club tomorrow night.”
Muscat said the “intense character” has been an inspirational figure both off and on the field, racing to be the league’s top scorer.
He dismissed the suggestion the occasion might get to the 29-year-old.
“He’s been here long enough now to realise every game at this football club is a big game.”
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