In the words of Aurelio Vidmar, Mathew Leckie looked like he went “15 rounds with Mike Tyson” but the wounded Socceroo produced a man-of-the-match performance to help guided Melbourne City to Isuzu UTE A-League glory.
Making his first start since returning from injury, the 34-year-old showed his immense quality to claim a maiden Championship in front of 29,902 supporters – the biggest sporting crowd at the Melbourne venue.
REACTION: ‘Your league, my league, our league’: A Grand Final that reminded us why we love the game
CITY ARE CHAMPIONS! Historic Melbourne Derby Grand Final ends in heartbreak for Victory
“Who? Oh that guy,” City head coach Vidmar joked when asked about Leckie, who has dealt with injury problems throughout 2024-25.
“I think he’s gone 15 rounds with Mike Tyson. He’s pretty banged up. He’s been in the medical office since he’s come back inside. He’s in strife.”
READ MORE: Mathew Leckie claims Joe Marston Medal in Socceroos star’s crowning A-Leagues moment
Vidmar added: “He was enormous tonight, absolutely enormous.
“We sort of let the Ferrari get out of the garage tonight.
“He just played an incredible game. Look, he had a lot of issues this year. He had a lot of issues also going into this game as well. But he’s such a tough competitor, a guy that always wants to win and thoroughly deserved Joe Marston, absolutely and just fought to the death. So absolutely enormous.”
Fronting the media in his post-game press conference that was gatecrashed by a handful of City players and plenty of alcohol, Vidmar also explained his decision to deploy Leckie in the centre of midfield.
Leckie has made a name for himself as a forward but the Socceroo lined up as a no.6 against the four-time champions.
“We just thought that if they get the ball past that first line, guys like (Zinedine) Machach, a bit more physical,” Vidmar explained. “So we thought he would be the only one who could match up with him in a one-on-one and then we also gave a license for him to move forward.
“When he did, then we knew Steve (Ugarkovic), he would just drop back in and and fill a hole. So that was the thinking behind it. Just in a defensive phase, it gives us a lot of balance and as I said, he’s such a such a competitor. He wants to win. He wants to win every ball.
“He can be over exuberant at times. We’re giving away free-kicks at the end there. They gave us a few hairy moments, but that was the thinking behind it. Our discussion with him during the week was we didn’t know really how long he could give us.
“I was thinking, if he gives us 45 to 60, that would be absolutely brilliant. But he just said, don’t take me off until I put my hand up, basically. So we kept asking him in the last 20 or so minutes how he was feeling, and he just said, Nothing fine.
“So he’s definitely feeling the pain absolutely now. But I think he got the right rewards tonight, with all the pain that he went through through the course of the year and what he went through this week, so absolutely enormous.”
