After a tough week for the club and him personally, Adelaide United skipper Marcelo Carrusca said the Reds’ 1-0 win over Newcastle Jets was for their long-suffering fans.
On a frantic and feisty Friday night at Coopers Stadium, the bottom-placed Reds were up for it from the start after a 5-0 loss to Glory last week.
And they got reward after Tarek Elrich’s purposeful run into the box won them the penalty, which Carrusca stroked home just after the hour mark for his first goal of the season.
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“We believe in the group and we keep fighting and today this [win] is for the fans that came to every game,” he told SBS TV .
“Unfortunately we can’t give to them what they [the fans] deserve, so today the victory is for them.
“It’s difficult to find the answer to why we are in this position now,” he added.
“But we show today we can win [against] every team.”
The Argentine playmaker put in an excellent shift in a side that was full of energy and desire, following what he conceded had been a difficult week after being left out of the club’s Asian Champions League squad.
It was a surprise to some though the Argentine club hero was philosophical about the decision.
“I didn’t expect to be outside of the Asian Champions League – this is something we’ve been working on for a couple of years. But this is football. I need to accept that.
“He [the manager] said he preferred one player who wasn’t with us, he was in the plane [on his way to Australia].
“I don’t have to agree but I have to accept [the decision].”
The Reds next face Gamba Osaka in the Champions League on Wednesday night at Coopers before a Saturday night showdown with Victory in Melbourne.
