Sydney FC Captain Alex Brosque says it will be an extra special moment to lift the Premiers Plate in front of Melbourne Victory on Friday night at Allianz Stadium.
The Sky Blues’ leader said claiming a second Plate in succession was satisfying and hinted that it had extra significance given they’ll celebrate in front of one of their fiercest rivals.
“I think it will be [special lifting the plate in front of Melbourne],” Brosque said.
“I just think lifting the Plate in general will be satisfying. No one really expected us to do it again, history shows it’s very very difficult to do it twice in a row so regardless of who we’re lifting it in front of the fact we’ve been able to do it again is rewarding in itself.
“I think everyone is really excited about this game, the hardest part mentally is what we’ve already been through.
“Everything we’ve been through, the travel, the games, the fact we had to win our last Champions League game and did that, they’re all the mental battles that we’ve overcome and become stronger for.
“Going into this game you don’t need any motivation to play Melbourne, especially in front of our home crowd. We know we’ve got a very good record against them in the last couple of years, we want to maintain that and we want to take form into the finals.”
Comparing the Sky Blues’ record-breaking 2016/17 season with the current record campaign, Brosque said both years were similar, putting Sydney FC’s phenomenal form down to the standards set at the club and the records and history on offer.
“If you look at results and where we are on the ladder it’s very similar [to last season],” Brosque said.
“By the time this weekend comes around we’re not far off what we did last year. We’ve just maintained a very good level, the standards we’ve set last year, knowing anything less wouldn’t be good enough.
“We’ve managed to maintain that, it’s been two very good years, we did have a lot of changes from last year, in light of all those changes we’re still here 14 points clear.
“We win this week and Newcastle lost it’s 17 points, the same as last year, so to say whether it’s a better team is for others to argue. We’re just as happy with where we are.
“They’re the things Arnie uses to keep us motivated [the records],” he continued.
“The fact that there’s a lot of things teams haven’t done before or done before that we can break, and once your career is done those things make you proud. More than anything it’s motivation, Arnie uses all the stats he can find to keep us going.”
See what Captain Alex Brosque had to say in his pre-match press conference ahead of TOMORROW NIGHT'S #BigBlue at @AllianzStadium… #SydneyIsSkyBlue #NotDoneYet pic.twitter.com/wKVFX8REAf
— Sydney FC (@SydneyFC) April 12, 2018
