Jamie Maclaren cheekily called on Melbourne Victory fans to help fill the stands at the A-League Men’s Grand Final between their two fierce cross-town rivals.
Defending champions Melbourne City and Western United will go head-to-head in Saturday’s Isuzu UTE A-League decider at AAMI Park.
Well-supported Victory’s presence would have guaranteed a capacity crowd at the 30,000-seat venue but they were knocked out by Western in an enthralling semi-final.
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It has led to City striker and Golden Boot winner Maclaren’s unusual invitation.
“I really hope the Melbourne community can come out,” Maclaren said.
“The Victory fans, if they feel like coming to support us again, then why not?”
Hundreds of Victory fans attended City’s final regular-season match earlier this month – in support of Wellington Phoenix – when a draw or win for the visitors would have handed Tony Popovic’s team the Premiers Plate.
City prevailed 2-1 to secure the silverware.
The Grand Final is expected to be played in front of more than the 20,000 fans that three regular-season meetings between City and Western drew in total.
“The atmosphere last time we played Western was actually really good,” Maclaren said.
“It will be nice to have the stadium full and cheering for both sides.
“You want that, every player wants that. You don’t want to play in front of small crowds, so it will be great.”
The Grand Final comes in the same week European giants Barcelona attracted a crowd of 70,174 for a friendly match against the A-Leagues All Stars in Sydney on Wednesday.
“If that means we can get more games like that and bring out the Aussie crowd, that’s fantastic,” Maclaren said.
“There’s people out there who can come to games and there will be people in Melbourne who might be (weighing up whether) to come to the grand final, but I urge you to come.
“We’re on a good path and I really hope that Saturday night shows that.”
