‘There’s more fuel to the fire’: New Red Troisi expecting spicy Victory reunion

A history of fiery clashes and extreme dislike for the other side is only set to intensify due to off-season moves between Adelaide United and Melbourne Victory.

That’s the opinion of Reds playmaker James Troisi, who is set to come up against his former club Victory for the first time in Saturday night’s Original Rivalry clash at Coopers Stadium.

While Troisi swapped Melbourne for the City of Churches, Victory boss Marco Kurz went the other way, adding even more hostility between the two clubs.

”It’s a derby. There’s only one team in Adelaide so this is the closest were going to get to a derby at the moment,” Troisi told reporters ahead of the Round 7 clash.

“And just the history of the clash as well, the Kossie [John Kosmina] and Muscy [Kevin Muscat incident].

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.@JamesTroisi now in Red 🔴 about facing his former team in Blue 🔵. #AUFC #ADLvMVC #OriginalRivalry pic.twitter.com/por3Lj5ZgR

— Adelaide United (@AdelaideUnited) November 21, 2019

“I guess this one is a little bit more enhanced because Marco has gone to Victory and I’ve come to Adelaide.

“So there’s obviously a bit more fuel to the fire to this one.

Asked his emotion going into the clash with the club where he won a Championship in 2017/18, Troisi said: “It’s exciting, generally these bigger games are fun.

“It’s pretty easy to get up for them. You have to keep professional. Ultimately it’s a big game and an exciting game but it’s just another game.

“We want to take it as it is, we want to approach every game the same way. But it’s going to be more intense, the tempo is going to be higher, it’s one that the fans really enjoy so we want to put on a performance.”

After losing their first two matches, the Reds have surged into the top six on the back of three straight wins.

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Adelaide’s strong run of form has coincided with Troisi’s promotion into the starting side.

While things are looking up for his current side, the 31-year-old’s former employers have picked up just one win from their first six games to sit in eighth spot.

“Not too much has changed in terms of [Kurz’s] tactics and the way he wants to play, but ultimately it’s completely new and different players,” Troisi said of Victory.