Western Sydney Wanderers recruit Oriol Riera is already looking forward to the upcoming season’s Sydney Derby and revealed a link with a current Sky Blues star.
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Riera made his Wanderers debut off the bench with a 30-minute cameo against Arsenal on Saturday night.
He is the Wanderers’ new marquee striker and hopes to use his experience from the last four years in Spain’s La Liga to help bring success to Western Sydney.
RE-UNITING WITH AN EX-TEAMMATE
Before his stint in La Liga with Deportivo La Coruna and Osasuna, Riera spent two seasons at Spanish second division club AD Alcorcon.
It was their he came across current Sky Blues attacker David Carney, who spent six months at the club in 2011/12.
The pair re-united this week at the official welcome ceremony for Arsenal’s Tour Down Under.
“He’s a good man,” Riera said of Carney.
“We played together maybe six years ago for a few months. He told me a lot about Australia when he came [to Alcorcon].”
READY FOR SYDNEY DERBY
Riera has already been briefed on the club’s rivalry with Sydney FC and knows the importance of the fixture to the side and Wanderers fans.
And the 31-year-old won’t have to wait long to get a crack at the Sky Blues, with Sydney’s two fierce rivals going head-to-head at Allianz Stadium in Round 3.
“I like derbies. I played a lot of them in the past,” he said.
“It will be a big game also. Different to [the Arsenal game] but for Australia it’s a big game.
He added: “I’m a striker, I’m a good player and I want to know this football, [the Wanderers] type of football and I hope that I score a lot of goals.”
