It’s amazing what rest and a normal fixture schedule can do for a team.
Melbourne Victory looked out on their feet as they fought to keep their top-four hopes and Liberty A-League Championship defence alive amid a mounting list of games.
READ: VICTORY TO MEET SYDNEY IN ALW GRAND FINAL BIG BLUE
With COVID-19 wreaking havoc on the calendar, Victory were forced to play seven matches in February in a gruelling finale to the regular season.
A shadow of themselves, Victory eventually stumbled into the Finals Series on goal difference following five matches without a win, but the rest as they say, is history.
With matches back to normal and players fully recovered, Victory upstaged Adelaide United 2-1 in the Elimination Final before conquering rivals Melbourne City 3-1 in Sunday’s Preliminary Final.
Now, Victory are gearing up for the March 27 showdown against Premiers Sydney FC – a rematch of last season’s decider.
“It’s important to remember they came off seven games in 23 days,” Network 10 analyst Grace Gill highlighted post-match.
“This is a game they’ve been fully rested. So this is the Melbourne Victory we can see, that they are capable of producing that kind of result.”
Fellow analyst Georgia Yeoman-Dale added: “It’s really impressive the form they’ve brought into the Finals series. Really stepped it up a notch last week against Adelaide and then today it was a dominant performance.”
Victory completely dominated City at AAMI Park, where Melina Ayres, Claudia Bunge and Lia Privitelli guided the titleholders past City in Melbourne.
If not for Sally James – the 19-yeard-old in between the sticks after veteran City goalkeeper Melissa Barbieri was sent off against Sydney – Victory could’ve won by a far greater margin.
Alex Chidiac was instrumental to Victory’s triumph.
In another tireless display, the Australia international was everywhere as she fuelled a Victory team, Privitelli previously declared were “made for finals”.
“It’s the best feeling. I’m still catching my breath from all the celebrations but I’m so happy,” Chidiac told Network 10.
“The body is definitely feeling a little bit rough right now but it’s taken over by adrenalin during the game.
“Good recovery this week but we’ve been feeling really good in the lead up and I think it’s going to be the same heading into the Final so I’m really looking forward to it.”
“It’s been an up and down season. We’ve had a lot thrown our way but we’re buzzing we got the result. Good to see it was a typical derby. We’re so stoked,” said Bunge.
City were unable to match the intensity of Chidiac and Victory throughout the 90 minutes.
The secret? Well, it’s simple – recovery.
“I mean seven days in 21 days will do it. I think it’s that really. I haven’t really been doing anything different, just a lot of recovery during the week and putting everything into matches,” Chidiac said.
“Coming into this game, it could’ve been our last match and I wanted to give everything no matter what. I’m really happy with the amount of effort I’m able to put into matches.”
Victory captain Kayla Morrison was in the stands, watching her team-mates reach yet another A-League Women Grand Final.
Morrison has been sidelined with a season-ending ACL injury since the opening game.
The likes of Morrison are fuelling Victory as Chidiac highlighted the unity of the team.
“She’s been such a huge part of our team. She’s at every training session. She’s always in and around with such positive energy,” said Chidiac.
“We want to do it for her and all the players sitting in the stands. It’s honestly been such a massive team performance to get us to this point.”
For Chidiac, she’s preparing for her second Grand Final appearance – the 23-year-old won the 2016 Championship with City as a teenager.
What are her feelings this time around?
“This means a lot more. Not discarding back when I was 17 heading into that final but I’ve been through it with the girls all the way through, playing matches and feeling all the emotions. This one is going to feel really, really special,” Chidiac added.
“I just want to win a Championship with Melbourne Victory at the moment. That’s where all my focus is. Whatever comes afterwards, comes afterwards,” Chidiac said amid growing talk of a Matildas recall.
The match did not go according to plan for milestone woman Rebekah Stott.
Stott made her 100th ALW appearance, a particularly notable achievement given her battle with cancer only 12 months ago.
An inspiration far and wide, Stott’s season was unfortunately cut short by her former team.
The New Zealand international reflected: “They were just too good for us. We’ve had a hard week, hard game last week. They were too good.
“It was a crazy game last week. It really hit us. Two red cards, lots of injuries. Unfortunately we had a hard as game. They did well and beat Adelaide and had the momentum. We struggled.”
On her past year and return to the field, Stott said: “It’s amazing to be back on the field. Gutted for the result today. The girls have had an amazing season. We’ve done our best.”
