The A-Leagues’ Christmas Derby is back! And it is a fixture that already has a tradition of delivering drama.
“This is what you work for as a player. The sort of moments you live for.”
Goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen has graced football’s biggest stages as a Denmark international and former Premier League star.
Yet such is the feeling in a Derby – anywhere on the planet – that in the 2015 Melbourne Christmas Derby, emotions got the better of the usually unflappable custodian.
Don’t miss the Christmas Derby on Channel 10 this Saturday night. Pre-game starts at 7pm AEDT.
In Melbourne? Head to the game by purchasing tickets here.
“Great memories, you’ll see in the end, my emotions ran pretty high. I remember a great sense of relief, pride,” he reflected of Melbourne City’s win, a 2-1 triumph in front of a packed house.
“To have a great game, win it with your teammates, the fans; all that came flowing through me at that point.
“To have that backs against the wall feeling against your rivals was an immense feeling.
“I have always enjoyed derby games; I have been involved in huge games in the north of England, the Midlands of England.
The rivalry that is here in Melbourne is quite special.
Every great fixture in world sport becomes great because it is laced with history. Not just a sense of theatre or drama in the present. But a show reel, or history book; events that are iconic moments in time.
Look across the globe at the fiercest derbies, or must watch events on the calendar, and you can instantly recall moments synonymous with those clashes; a particular date, or more personally, where you were or who you were with.
For the Isuzu UTE A-League, the Melbourne Derby is one of the fixtures you circle and make sure you do not miss. You know it’s going to deliver.
But it has been a few years since we’ve enjoyed the spectacle of the Christmas Derby.
The good news is: it’s back. Box office returns to the A-Leagues in the festive season, and with it comes an occasion that has delivered some of the most gripping theatre the competition has seen with some of the most famous names – and fans – in the competition’s history.
Here are four of the most epic.
“There are times when I flick back and reminisce about my times at Victory and there are some goals that I scored with the Socceroos, but that 2012 goal always pops up in the highlights,” Archie Thompson reminisced in an interview with FTBL.com in 2017.
“It’s not about how I see the goal go in, it’s the reaction I see from the crowd.”
And boy, there was a reaction.
Infamously, the Victory icon sealed the win in front of a raucous crowd two minutes into injury time in the 2012 instalment.
Wheeling away in celebration, he confronted a boisterous Heart fan in the crowd – who was pictured telling Thompson exactly how he felt.
With Kevin Muscat and John Aloisi in the respective dugouts, and 26,000 fans in the stands, Fred had cancelled out Marco Rojas’ opener before Thompson’s late theatrics.
Thompson reflected: “I’m then running along and the Heart supporter stuck his middle fingers at me and he tried to tell me it was offside. We had a bit of a laugh about it on Twitter, it’s good banter and that’s what it’s about.”
Erik Paartalu owns one of the competition’s most famous goals, when he broke Central Coast hearts in Brisbane Roar’s 2011 grand final win under Ange Postecoglou with a last gasp effort that is arguably the most dramatic in the competition’s folklore.
But he has a spot in the Melbourne Derby annals as well, care of a 90th minute Christmas Derby winner in a 1-0 win in 2014 in front of 26, 372 fans, exacting revenge for a derby pummelling earlier in the campaign.
Now, City are the hunted. But it is a reminder that that certainly wasn’t always the case, as they played the ‘noisy neighbour’ role in the early stages of this rivalry.
“At the time, we didn’t feel inferior, but we were made to feel inferior,” he recalled in an interview with FTBL.com.
“Melbourne Victory had a long standing history, they won titles. In 2014/15 they had a stronger team, a bigger club network and fan base, so they were the ones to beat.
“Every time there was a derby, you were talking about it two weeks beforehand. You’d get an email from the club asking if you wanted tickets because it would be a sell-out. Everybody knows this game is going to be 45,000 at Etihad or over 25,000 at AAMI Park.
“The atmosphere on derby day is just fantastic, it’s something you miss.”
In 2015, Sorensen was the key protagonist in a Christmas Derby where he made 12 saves, including a ridiculous reflex stop off a point blank header.
On Melbourne City’s You Tube channel, he reminisced: “I took my revenge (after Besart Berisha scored with) a very instinctive save onto the post, fairly early in the second-half and it was a crucial time.
“As a goalkeeper, you are so much in the moment, trying to analyse things fairly quickly, and as the cross came in, and the header, you don’t have time to think and you stick out your hand and try get as much power as possible.
Looking back on it, (it was) one of the best saves I made in a Melbourne City shirt, for sure.
Former Socceroos skipper Mark Milligan now enjoys the A-Leagues through the comfort of the Channel 10/Paramount+ studios, but in 2017, he stole the headlines in the Christmas Derby.
Coming on as a substitute, he sealed a 1-0 win in stoppage time, punishing City stopper Dean Bouzanis for a brain fade with a cool penalty from the spot with 95 minutes showing on the clock.
Despite Berisha and James Troisi being on the park, Millsy stepped up.
“It was just one of those moments. I was very confident,” Milligan told the Herald Sun at the time.
“We had a quick look about and the feeling I got from him was that he was happy for me to take it. So that’s what happened.
“There’s always different feelings in different parts of games. Bes, being a striker, is always confident he can do the job, but I’ve taken quite a few for Victory as well.
“It was just a glance about. Jimmy (Troisi) was involved too. In the end I found myself standing over it.”
In front of 22,000 fans at AAMI Park, it was a night that helped cure Milligan’s disappointment at being back home, rather than in the English Championship after a deal had fallen through.
“It became what is every footballer’s dream,” he said.
“To take a penalty well past the 90th minute to win the match.”
He added: “Sitting on the bench in the first half I got a good chance to sit and really have a look around and feel that buzz.
“And while Etihad is a magnificent stadium and fantastic to play at, the feeling and the atmosphere at AAMI is a different level.”
And that’s exactly where we’ll reprise this great fixture on Saturday night. Bring it on.
