Burgess red card turning point as City reach fourth consecutive Grand Final | OneFootball

The last match of the season to be played in Melbourne, on a characteristically cold Friday May evening, Melbourne City took on Sydney FC in the second leg of their A-League semi-final, romping home with a 4-0 win, 5-1 on aggregate.

With Jordan Bos’ departure looming large over City, in addition to a 1-1 score-line. City dominated the midfield within the opening exchanges, with the aforementioned Bos and returning Aiden O’Neill dominating proceedings. Some excellent interplay on the left channels by Marco Tilio threatened Sydney’s goal, with the Sky Blues growing into the contest.

Sydney in an attempt to counter-attack were largely stifled by the midfield composition of City, with Mathew Leckie largely operating as a number ten.

However an errand yet uncalled studs up challenge from Max Burgess saw him off the park in the 20th minute, following a VAR call. City continued to maintain their pace.

Setting up with an incredibly high line, Melbourne City dominated proceedings, with a Valon Berisha set piece finding the head of Maclaren who hit the left post. Minutes later in the 34th minute, an incisive pass from Berisha hit the feet of Leckie, who swung onto his right foot but wasn’t able to penetrate Andrew Redmayne’s goal.

Yet, a 37th minute delivery from a corner found the head of Curtis Good who made no mistake, leading to City’s first as they took a stranglehold over the tie. With the added momentum, City were able to see the half out within an effective manner, and with the 1-0 advantage.

With the Sky Blues eager to equalise with the man disadvantage, Curtis Good and Thomas Lam kept a lower line in defence, as Sydney FC sought to expose the liminal space available within the left and right channels. Several shots within the opening ten minutes troubled Redmayne yet Sydney retained a resolute shape in defence.

The game, firmly put to bed as a ball was rolled across from Andrew Nabbout into the path of Jamie Maclaren who made no mistake, adding to his historic goal-scoring tally and providing City with the two-goal buffer heading into the remaining 30 minutes.

It was more a formality, given the circumstances in which City operated within. Possessing the luxury of four attacking players with such sublime quality against a hesitant defence is bound to lead to goals aplenty, with this contest no different in the slightest.

To cap off a stunning season for both players, Aiden O’Neill and Marco Tilio subsequently combined on the left channel, with the 21-year-old rifling it into the top right corner to give City their third.

Richard Van der Venne added their fourth from outside the box into the bottom left corner, as City continued to mount the pain upon the Sky Blues.

In totality, City swept the floor with a Sydney side that for the majority of the campaign have languished behind the chasing pack, failing to ascend until the final few rounds of the season. It isn’t a cataclysmic season by any respects, but not an ideal way to end the campaign.