‘He’ll be in and amongst it’ – Garcia expects Glory captain Castro to play ‘vital role’ against City

Perth Glory coach Richard Garcia is ‘pretty confident’ captain Diego Castro will have a vital role to play against Melbourne City on Sunday.

The 38-year-old is yet to feature in the A-League this season but Garcia revealed the Spanish maestro will return for the clash at AAMI Park, kick-off 6.40pm AEDT.

Glory have still managed to rattle in 10 goals without Castro, while also conceding 10 in their three matches, and Garcia wants to gradually build up his skipper’s fitness.

That means Castro is not set to play 90 minutes against the Victorian side – but with forwards Andy Keogh and Nick D’Agostino carrying knocks from training, Garcia did not rule out naming his captain from the start.

“Pretty confident [Castro] will play a vital role in the game,” Garcia said. “He’s still getting up to speed so he’ll be in and amongst it.

“He’s a vital part of the squad, like all of the senior players who came in and add that much needed experience.

“It’ll be good to have him back around the place and an extra experienced player in the group.”

SUNDAY PREVIEW: Melbourne City v Perth Glory
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https://players.brightcove.net/5519514571001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6226187307001

Garcia made five changes as the Western Australian side came off a wild 5-4 defeat against Western United and followed up with a 2-1 reverse against Melbourne Victory on Tuesday.

The Glory coach revealed to expect more changes against Melbourne City as the away side prepare for their fourth match in 12 days, with another game against Adelaide to come in five days time on Friday.

“It almost is a necessity. We’ve got players now that are a little bit fresher from not playing the other day,” Garcia added.

“We’ll look to see how many we do rotate but we’ve had to be a little bit careful with how we go about playing certain players and how much we give them.

“It’s important that we keep these guys for the majority of the season and don’t put too much pressure on them to back up, and back up, and back up.

“It’s hard enough for the experienced pro to do that, never mind guys that have probably not been at this level before at all.”

Selection Matters…@RichGarcia19 provides a squad update ahead of Sunday's showdown with Melbourne City.
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— Perth Glory FC (@PerthGloryFC) January 29, 2021

Melbourne City coach Patrick Kisnorbo believes his team cannot take much away from Glory’s goal-frenzy matches as the Bundoora club aim to build on their six points from three games.

“I don’t play anymore but as a defender you always want to keep clean sheets,” Kisnorbo said.

“Sometimes things like this happen. I don’t read to much into that stuff, how they’ve conceded [10] goals because they’ve got some good players in the front and back.

“It’s how we are going to go and prepare for the game.”

https://players.brightcove.net/5519514571001/default_default/index.html?videoId=6223403423001

Match details

Melbourne City v Perth Glory
Sunday, 31 January 2021
Kick-off: 6.40pm AEDT
Venue: AAMI Park
Broadcast: FOX Sports 505
Stream: MyFootball Live App, Kayo Sports
Match Centre