Welcome to the A-Leagues, Zinedine Machach.
The Frenchman endeared himself to the Australian footballing public, with a brilliant debut performance for Melbourne Victory in their 2-0 win over Sydney FC on Saturday evening.
Machach’s performance was rewarded with three votes in the Alex Tobin Medal, capping it off with a stunning late goal to wrap up the win at Allianz Stadium.
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In the 86th minute, the winger found his way through the Sky Blues defence, after brute forcing his way past Jake Girdwood-Reich, before taking the ball past Anthony Caceres and firing it into the back of the net.
And it’s fair to say, he’s already made quite the impression on Victory and football fans alike.
“We are so happy to start the season like this and we played away,” Machach told Network 10 post-game.
“We had a lot of weeks of pre-season and we were ready for this game. We had a plan, from the coach and we try to follow the the plan and we are happy because we have success today.
“This is the best!”
Machach arrives at Victory following stints at the likes of Napoli, Marseille, Toulouse and most recently, Greek side Ionikos.
The 27-year-old was asked about his first impressions of playing in Australia post-game, saying he was amazed with the amount of running and length of the pre-season.
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“The first time I came here, I said ‘Oh, what, the Australian players run a lot!
“And do the long pre-season with a lot of running and all the players run a lot. I said It’s amazing, but I had a good pre-season.
“This country is unbelievable. Melbourne is a very nice city, and Melbourne Victory is a big club here, and I’m so happy when I knew I was coming here.
“I never thought I would go to Australia because it’s very far from my home, but it’s a very nice league.
“When I came, I didn’t think the level was going to be like this because we think, for example, in Europe, the level is a lot more high, but a lot of it is technique, run, strong and I’m happy to be here.”
Victory will be looking for back-to-back wins to start the season when they return home to face Newcastle Jets at AAMI Park next Sunday.
