Melbourne City striker Bruno Fornaroli has revealed his secret to finals success, while goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen described Sunday’s Hyundai A-League Elimination Final win over Perth Glory as “top notch from start to finish”.
Fornaroli again hogged the headlines after his impressive brace in City’s 2-0 triumph at AAMI Park sent the team into Friday night’s semi final with Adelaide United.
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The Uruguayan executed an overhead kick in the first half and curling a free-kick into the top corner of the net in the second to send his team into the Hyundai A-League semi-finals.
The two goals took Fornaroli to 25 in his debut A-League season and the 28-year-old explained a positive frame of mind was critical for him in the pressure-cooker atmosphere of the finals.
“I’m enjoying [my football] with the fans, I’m enjoying with my team-mates – this is perfect for me,” he told reporters on Monday.
“I think when you play the final, you need to enjoy [it]. This is the secret.”
Fornaroli seemed slightly bashful when discussing his bicycle kick that gave City the lead in the 40th minute on Sunday’s elimination final.
But the former Sampdoria and Panathinaikos forward claimed the hosts took control of the match following his opening goal.
“I think the team worked hard yesterday, very hard,” Fornaroli said.
“When you don’t have a second opportunity, you need to work like this, and I think team worked very good yesterday.”
City’s response after losing their final two matches of the regular season was impressive against Glory, who had beaten Fornaroli and Co. in the penultimate round.
Sorensen was thrilled with how City recovered at home and claimed he is looking forward to another chance at revenge versus premiers Adelaide United on Friday night.
Adelaide defeated City 2-0 on April 8 to eventual lift the Premiers Plate.
“We had a little bit of a sticky patch come the end of the [regular] season, so it was important to get things back on track and I though the performance [against Glory] was top notch from start to finish,” Sorensen said.
While City lost at home to the Reds in the last round before finals, they have triumphed in both meetings in Adelaide this season.
