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Adelaide United are the champions of the 2015-16 A-League season after taking a 3-1 win over the Western Sydney Wanderers in the 2016 Grand Final.
More A-League Grand Final:
– Match report
– Talking points
– Player ratings
United went up 2-0 before half time before the Wanderers went on the attack in the second half but couldn’t find an equaliser.
A third goal in the 90th minute sealed the deal for Adelaide United, capping off a remarkable season.
Final score
Adelaide United 3
Western Sydney Wanderers 1
It’s Grand Final time! Adelaide United and the Western Sydney Wanderers will duke it out this afternoon in the season finale. Catch all the thrilling highlights and action coming out of Adelaide from 4pm (AEST) on The Roar.
Both sides have fallen short in multiple grand finals before today’s big match, most famously in Adelaide’s complete capitulation against the Melbourne Victory in the 2007 decider, losing by a mammoth six goals to zip.
Not to be outdone though, the Wanderers sensationally became the first team in A-League history to lose consecutive GFs in 2013 and ’14, losing the later in a heart-breaking extra-time thriller.
Adelaide are coming into the final with just one loss from their last 20 matches, an even more incredible feat considering they languished in last place on the ladder after going winless through the first eight games of the season.
Despite their near unstoppable roll coming into the fixture, Adelaide have struggled against the Wanderers this year, all three of their round games ended in draws, the last two finishing as scoreless affairs.
Western Sydney are coming in off the back of perhaps the greatest game in A-League history, fighting back from a three goal deficit to win 5-4 in extra time.
Adelaide on the other hand paced through their semi much more comfortably, dispatching of Melbourne City four goals to one in a performance that oozed confidence.
A bit of a talking point during the week has been the citing of Wanderers midfielder Mitch Nichols, who has been put under the spotlight by the FFA’s disciplinary panel for a hand gesture he made towards the Brisbane Roar crowd after last week’s win.
Nichols has been cleared to play despite the rumours of a suspension, but he will have to answer to the panel in the weeks following.
In team news, both coaches have come through the finals series pretty well unscathed in terms of injuries and suspensions.
Neither side is expected to vary too much, if at all, from their semi-final winning teams, however, the Wanderers and United have added two extra men to an extended squad that will be shortened on game day.
Former Spanish international and Barcelona veteran, United coach Guillermo Amor, has added Mark Ochieng and Mate Dugandzic to his side.
His opposite number, Western Sydney coach Tony Popovic, has brought in Jaushua Sotirio and Jake Pepper to round out the 18-man squad.
Prediction
Despite the free flowing, 14-goal scoring, nature of the semi-finals, this one should be much more of a grind if their previous encounters are anything to go by.
It’s hard to go past the Premiers Plate winners with a rabid home crowd behind them.
Adelaide to win 1-0, or 2-1 in extra time… they’re going to win by one in a low scorer.
Who will win their first ever A-League winners plate in the battle between 1st vs 2nd? And who will leave empty handed for the third time in their respective clubs history? Catch all the big moments and action from the 2015/16 A-League Grand Final, from 4pm (AEST) on The Roar.
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