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Melbourne City have gatecrashed the A-League final four, turfing out Wellington Phoenix to set up a dream semi-final with the Victory.
Etihad Stadium will host the first Melbourne derby final on Friday night, pitting Kevin Muscat’s premiers against John van ‘t Schip’s underdogs.
And van ‘t Schip has begun a week of verbal warfare by declaring the pressure is all on Victory.
After City’s dramatic 2-0 elimination final over Wellington, van ‘t Schip’s men will fancy themselves to turn the tables on the title favourites.
Josh Kennedy’s close-range effort on the hour mark was City’s first finals goal, and Harry Novillo’s deflected strike shortly after provided their first win.
The result is incredibly tough on Ernie Merrick’s side, which sat on top of the A-League table as recently as last month.
But instead it’s a do-or-die derby which will send one of Melbourne’s sides to the grand final.
Victory effectively lose their home ground advantage earned by finishing the season as premiers.
For City, the place in the last four is a remarkable turnaround from last season when they finished bottom of the league.
Kennedy, one of many new faces in the City side, said the team deserved credit for turning around terrible late season form.
“After a few tough weeks, we dug deep,” he told Fox Sports.
“We’ll be ready for next week.”
Van ‘t Schip knows his side enters the contest as the unfancied side of Melbourne but that is fine by him.
“They’ve had a great season, but this is a totally different game. It’s a final game, everything can change in one moment,” he said.
“The pressure is on them.
“We are happy to be there, we’ll give it a go and if we are that strong as we were today I’m sure we’ll make it very difficult.”
On Saturday, Sydney FC host Adelaide in the other semi-final after the Reds beat Brisbane 2-1 in Friday’s elimination final.
Substitute Awer Mabil was the match winner with a late effort.
The match-up is not ideal for Sydney, who haven’t beaten or scored against the Reds all season.
Adelaide coach Josep Gombau was keen to talk down the recent history.
“This is numbers … every game is different,” he said.
“I think it will be an equal game. We will go over there with all the power that we have, try to win and be in the grand final.”
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