Melbourne Victory Head Coach Giovanni Savarese believes his side are ready to hit the ground running as they make their return to AFC Champions League action on Wednesday evening.
Victory kick off their ACL Two campaign with an away clash against Vietnamese side Thể Công–Viettel in Hanoi, and have been acclimatising to the local conditions having arrived in the country earlier this week.
Marking their full return to AFC Champions League competition for the first time since 2020, Savarese’s side take on the team who finished second in last season’s V.League 1, with the Venezuelan Head Coach expecting a tough test for his new-look Victory side.
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“It’s a team that has won the competition here in Vietnam,” Savarese said when speaking at his pre-game press conference in Hanoi.
“We have been able to see some of their matches, and we expect a difficult game.
“This is a higher level of competition when you come and play in the Champions League, so we’re very excited to be able to play.
“The players are ready, and it will be good for us to have our training to acclimatise to the weather and be prepared for tomorrow.”
Victory come into the game on a high having qualified for the 2026 Australia Cup final care of a 2-0 victory over rivals Sydney FC.
“We’ve been in pre-season playing the Australia Cup, and we know that this type of competition is always a difficult competition,” Savarese said.
“We understand our team; our players understand that we have to prepare for each match.”
With Wednesday night marking the opening of their ACL Two campaign, Victory will then face off against Korean side FC Seoul and Indonesian outfit Persib Bandung.
Following the news of Juan Mata’s departure last week Victory moved quickly to secure a replacement for the 2026 Johnny Warren Medal winner, with former Auckland forward Guillermo May signing on.
However Savarese has confirmed the 28-year-old hasn’t travelled to Vietnam, with the player not yet fit enough to feature for the Australia Cup finalists.
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“He didn’t travel at this particular moment,” Savarese revealed. “He is in Melbourne; he’s practising, and he will join the team to travel very soon.
“We have a strong team. We have a good culture. We have a group of players who are very much together, and we move forward in this direction.”
Victory will certainly be in for a testing time in Vietnam with weather conditions predicted to be 26 degrees and 93% humidity come kick off time.
Furthermore, Victory also face a side who’s domestic season has already kicked off, with the Thể Công–Viettel recording a win and a loss in their opening two matches.
However despite the perceived disadvantages for Victory, defender Jason Davidson believes the squad has quickly formed a close bond since Savarese’s arrival, something that will stand them in good stead for the upcoming campaign.
“I think the coach came in the pre-season we have a big emphasis on being together, being a family, and that starts with defending,” Davidson said when speaking to the media.
“The pleasing thing, as a defender, to be a part of this team is that everybody wants to contribute to defending.
“Our first defender in our team is our striker and everyone works back from there. So, yes, it is pleasing because the games we’ve had in the (Australia) cup, we’ve conceded one goal from a set-piece.
“But we don’t want to just be happy with that. We want to continue that and it’s a lot of work to come and a lot of games coming up in the season as well.
“So for us we just want to work hard as a unit, as a team and focus on what we can control and try to be a team that’s hard to break down. So hopefully tomorrow we can do that again.
“But it’s football and anything’s possible.”
