Sydney FC have completed their historic record-breaking season, taking the 2016/17 crown with one of the greatest grand final wins in the A-League’s short history.
All the wash-up from the A-League grand final
» Recap: Sydney are champs, as they deserve
» Five talking points from the match
» Player ratings: Melbourne Victory
» Player ratings: Sydney FC
» Georgievski wins Joe Marston Medal
» Re-live the live blog
With one goal each at the end of regulation time, an additional half an hour of extra time still couldn’t separate the bitter rivals, leading both sides into the penalty shootout.
It wasn’t pretty, with Sydney missing the first of the big chances, before Carl Valeri hit the woodwork to even things up.
With proceedings back on level pegging, it was a Danny Vukovic save that opened the door up for the Premiers.
Having just won the player of the season award, Milos Ninkovic stepped up to the mark with the title on the line and slotted it beautifully into the bottom right corner of goal to send Allianz Stadium into pandemonium.
Before all that though, it was a chaotic, physical, emotional, entertaining and classic game of football.
Melbourne shot out of the gates and really took the fight to the pre-game favourites, holding the bulk of possession and flustering the home side in the early exchanges.
The Albanian goal-scoring machine Besart Berisha broke the early deadlock, continuing his incredible record in finals football with a peach of a solo effort from just over halfway.
With two defenders to beat and no support on the counter, he cut back in and out to turn his marker all over the place towards the box, before sinking a clinical curling finish into the right edge of the net.
Sydney struggled to keep up in the opening half, but it was the second stanza that saw Graham Arnold’s men step up into the form that found them so much success this season.
The game continued to ebb and flow but the Sky Blues were able to wrestle control midway through the second half.
In a moment of pinball action and pure chaos, left back Rhyan Grant was able to latch onto a deflected David Carney shot that rebounded off the right post and the head of Berisha on the line.
Grant rushed through in front of keeper Lawrence Thomas to push home the finish from right in front as the Sydney crowd went crazy.
From that moment on it continued to be an absolute nail-biter, with both sides creating attacking opportunities, but equally unable to finish them off when it counted.
It was a heated affair with plenty of aggression throughout the game, including an incredible 11 yellow cards and a ridiculous 61 fouls throughout the contest.
The one-on-one battles and tense clashes kept the game on an emotional knife edge throughout the 120 minutes.
The atmosphere and crowd were electric throughout, combining with the outstanding quality of football and the massive occasion has made for one of the best games of football seen in Australia for a long, long time.
Final score
Sydney FC 1 (4)
Melbourne Victory 1 (2)
Lindsay Campbell
Roar Rookie
I don't understand why we bemoan the lack of ball skills when playing asian teams but don't draw the link between player protection and skill development. As much as the media wants to compete with afl & rugby we are a different sport & if we don't recognise it we'll fall further behind the world. Please refs more protection for the ball players & Simon Hill & Andy Harper stop trying to big up the thugs.
Adrian
Guest
I tend to agree, not sure what the fuss is about. The tactical aspect of the game were diabolical and resembled British bulldogs at times and football in the dark ages. I just hope Asia and Europe did not see it. Adelaide last year or Roar in their prime would easily play 10 times better.
Swanny
Guest
Sydster Epic game and crowd too I agree abt Muscat tactics But Sydney Fc did some brutal tackles too And mr Ryan Grant does it every game and never gets sent off Enjoy your win
sydster
Guest
A very poor game of football which took the Australian game back many decades with the neanderthal tactics of muscat.This game was not a classic as one coach for the 2nd time in 3 years decides brutality and anti-football should reign supreme in order to fulfil the final goal.An admission his side is not good enough to beat the opposition which is simply not the truth.Given also the referee simply did not have a feel for the game after multiple fouls by various MV players on Ninkovic it is amazing this game finished in an orderly fashion and 22 players left on the pitch.Teams sent to maim the opposition may sit well with supporters of other football codes or fans of that same team satisfied enough to win at all costs.The coaching performance by the vanquished will not bring people through the turnstiles, does not attract new fans and does nothing to raise the status of the A-league.Maybe the time has come that Mr KM should quietly move on and leave the coaching to someone who will enrich the code not technically destroy it.Well done Sydney FC, you deserve every accolade you receive, you also came within a whisker of missing out on the biggest prize of all by encountering paleolithic football
Cool N Cold
Guest
Berisha showed his worth while Graham Arnold made a good substitution, David Carney.
Chris
Guest
The SFS was jumping! What a great atmosphere and what an intense match. Worthy of a gf between 2 very good sides.
MarkfromCroydon
Roar Pro
"Thats why we have Grand Finals". Why? So FFA can make bucket loads of cash? It was a top match, but I already knew Sydney were the best team this year. I would have celebrated the win if we had beaten them, but in all reality, the Grand Finals is not the measure of the best team and it's a shame we have it at the end of our season, and I hope that one day we will be mature enough to have a balanced league competition of home and away matches where the team that finishes on top of the table at the end of that season is rightly lauded as the best team in the nation by everybody and doesn't have to go through a Cup final to get their rightful recognition. A knockout cup is great in it's own right, or in a short tournament (e.g. World Cup etc), but as the decider after a full league season it's not suitable.
Midfielder
Guest
What a save by Danny V
Midfielder
Guest
agree
Midfielder
Guest
agree
Swanny
Guest
Epic That's why we have grand finals
AZ_RBB
Guest
The intensity and atmosphere makes it an even greater tragedy that it's not being beamed into every lounge room live
Ben of Phnom Penh
Roar Guru
It was a wonderful example of the type of passion and atmosphere that finals football evoke. In the end the people who were lucky enough to make it into the ground received one hell of a treat.