Danish international Jakob Poulsen is the unlucky player to miss out as Melbourne Victory confirmed their squad for the group stage of the 2020 AFC Champions League on Wednesday.
Victory boss Carlos Salvachua unveiled his 26-man squad, with January signings Marco Rojas and Giancarlo Gallifuoco among them.
But there was no room for 35-cap Danish international Poulsen as one of Victory’s three foreigners permitted in their squad.
Youngsters Jack Palazzolo and Brendan White were the other two players that missed the cut for the upcoming campaign.
“With any ACL squad announcement there are always tough decisions, and Jack, Jakob and Brendan make way on this occasion,” Salvachua said on Victory’s official website.
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We've named our squad for the #ACL2020 Group Stage! Details: https://t.co/T7khzZFdVj #MVFC #OurVictory pic.twitter.com/X7rOIJYmBM
— Melbourne Victory (@gomvfc) February 5, 2020
“We have a big couple of months ahead in both the A-League and Champions League, and it will take our entire squad working hard together to help us achieve our ambition of qualifying for the next stage of the tournament.”
Victory opens its ACL campaign against Thailand’s Chiangrai United on Tuesday, February 11 at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium.
But first they have a huge Hyundai A-League fixture to contend with, taking on local rivals Melbourne City at AAMI Park on Friday night, kicking off at 7.30pm AEDT.
Melbourne Victory’s AFC Champions League squad
Ola Toivonen (c), Matthew Acton, Aaron Anderson, Kenny Athiu, Migjen Basha, Jay Barnett, Lleyton Brooks, Leigh Broxham, Ben Carrigan, James Donachie, Giancarlo Gallifuoco, Joshua Hope, Elvis Kamsoba, Birkan Kirdar, Robbie Kruse, Brandon Lauton, Luis Lawrie-Lattanzio, Anthony Lesiotis, Andrew Nabbout, So Nishikawa, Marco Rojas, Storm Roux, Matthew Sutton, Lawrence Thomas, Adama Traore, Joshua Varga
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