Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat says his side fully deserved to win through to the Hyundai A-League Grand Final after overcoming Melbourne City on Friday night.
Victory showed their quality with a professional 3-0 win against their crosstown rivals, with goals from Besart Berisha, Kosta Barbarouses and Archie Thompson sealing the triumph.
MATCH REPORT: Melbourne Victory 3 – Melbourne City 0
The win will see the club play in their fourth Grand Final next weekend at AAMI Park, and Muscat insisted his side’s place in the decider is a reflection of their season.
“It’s fitting we’ve made the final after the season we’ve had. I think it is thoroughly deserved,” he said.
“Everything pointed towards us winning tonight. When we got those two early goals I thought we were pretty comfortable.
“We had to deal with a lot of balls into the box … but I thought we handled all that pretty well.”
Victory have now won four games in succession and appear to have timed their surge in form at just the right time.
However, the coach chose instead to emphasise his side’s consistency of performance throughout the season as the catalyst to reaching the decider next weekend.
“It’s difficult because what is the definition of form? It’s in the eye of the beholder,” he said.
“If you ask other teams, form started after the Asian Cup break. I consider form from day one.
“That’s when we all knew what we were playing for. Winning four on the trot is just a by-product.”
Victory will face either Sydney FC or Adelaide United next weekend, with the opponents to be decided when those two face each other at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night.
While admitting he is wary of both teams, Muscat refused to shy away from telling the footballing world the expectations he has of his players.
‘We’ve got to go on and win the game,” he said.
“It’s going to be tough regardless of who gets through tomorrow.
“They are two good teams (and) we will respect them.
“(But) I’m driven from within to make sure that we prepare as well as we can because we’ve got to go on and win the game.”
