Melbourne Victory are back in AFC Champions League Two action on Wednesday night when they face K League 1 side FC Seoul at AAMI Park.
Victory come into the game off the back of their agonising Australia Cup final loss to NPL VIC side South Melbourne FC on penalties on Saturday night.
Despite that loss Giovanni Savarese’s side will be looking to continue their unbeaten start to life in the competition, having secured a valuable 1-1 draw with Vietnamese side Thể Công–Viettel in their opening group stage match.
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“We have to step on the field and just perform, think about ourselves, make sure that we are our best in this match, and that’s the only way I think we can get a result,’ Savarese said when addressing the media in his pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
“We need to be prepared. We need to be ready. Whoever’s going to play on the field for them is their problem.”
Given the nature of Saturday night’s loss to South Melbourne coupled with the fact Victory kick-off their 2026/27 A-League Men campaign away to Wellington Phoenix on Sunday, Savarese says he’ll leave his team selection for Wednesday night up until the last minute given the congested fixture list.
“We still have probably one player unavailable [Louis D’Arrigo] that didn’t play last week, and basically a lot of the players are in a good position.
“We just have to see exactly who’s in a better fitness stage after the match that we played this weekend to be able to make sure that we put the right XI to start.
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“But this year, I feel we have a team that can definitely rotate and still be very strong.”
Despite losing their opening ACL Two clash to Indonesian side Persib in mid-September, FC Seoul head into Wednesday night’s clash in fine form.
Coached by Kim Gi-dong, FC Seoul are flying high at the top of K League 1, 18 points clear of second-place Ulsan with two games left in their regular season.
One player to watch out for will be former Sydney FC striker Patryk Klimala, who has 14 goals to his name in the K League 1 this season, enough to see him sat second in the race for the Golden Boot.
Following Wednesday’s home game against AAMI Park Victory then travel across the ditch to face Wellington Phoenix at Hnry Stadium on Sunday, October 18.
