Date: Saturday March 20
Kick-off: 7:00pm AEDT
Venue: Etihad Stadium
Head-to-head
Played 17: Melbourne Victory 6, Sydney FC 4, Draws 7
Previous Meeting
Sydney FC 2, Melbourne Victory 2, March 2010 (semi final (2nd leg) (2-1 after normal time)
Past five matches:
Melbourne Victory:
Round 25: Gold Coast United 1, Melbourne Victory 0, Skilled Park
Round 26: Melbourne Victory 2, North Queensland Fury 0, Etihad Stadium
Round 27: Sydney FC 2, Melbourne Victory 0, Sydney Football Stadium
MSF - 1st Leg: Melbourne Victory 2, Sydney FC 1, Etihad Stadium
MSF - 2nd leg: Sydney FC 2, Melbourne Victory 2, Sydney Football Stadium (Melbourne progresses 4-3 on aggregate)
Sydney FC:
Round 25: Brisbane Roar 1, Sydney FC 0, Suncorp Stadium
Round 26: Sydney FC 3, Perth Glory 2, Sydney Football Stadium
Round 27: Sydney FC 2, Melbourne Victory 0, Sydney Football Stadium
MSF - 1st Leg: Melbourne Victory 2, Sydney FC 1, Etihad Stadium
MSF - 2nd leg: Sydney FC 2, Melbourne Victory 2, Sydney Football Stadium (Melbourne progresses 4-3 on aggregate)
Preliminary Final: Sydney FC 4, Wellington Phoenix 2, Sydney Football Stadium
Analysis:
Melbourne Victory stands on the verge of history ahead of Saturday's Grand Final against Sydney FC at Etihad Stadium as it looks to become the first team ever to defend a Hyundai A-League championship.
Melbourne has already become the first team to make successive Grand Finals, qualifying via a dramatic major semi-final win over Sydney over two legs and gets its chance to stamp itself once again as the Hyundai A-League's dominant team.
The path to the Grand Final
Melbourne defender Adrian Leijer said ahead of this weekend's match that this is the Grand Final that the Hyundai A-League has been waiting five years for. The two biggest clubs in the competition finally get a chance to put their reputations on the line in the biggest match of the year.
The build up to this clash could not have been more exciting. Sydney won the Premiers' Plate by one point by defeating Melbourne in the final round. Then Melbourne turned things around in the space of four days, winning the first leg of the major semi-final 2-1.
The second leg in Sydney has been described as the greatest Hyundai A-League final of all time, with Melbourne taking an early lead through a magnificent goal from Robbie Kruse before Karol Kisel and Mark Bridge forced the tie into extra time.
It was then that Melbourne's superior finals experience came to the fore as Kevin Muscat took a quick free kick and Archie Thompson scored the goal which booked Melbourne a home Grand Final.
Sydney was forced to go through a cut-throat Preliminary Final against Wellington, which it eased through 4-2, setting up a decider between the two dominant teams of the season.
Walking Wounded
Both teams have had injury issues to key players over the past month, but Melbourne goes into this Grand Final in better shape after Kruse and Thompson made returns to football over the past fortnight.
Tom Pondeljak has a niggly hamstring, but that is unlikely to keep him out meaning the only players unavailable for this match are knee victims Billy Celeski and Matthew Kemp and the suspended Nik Mrdja. Melbourne has included Mate Dugandzic, Aziz Behich and Nathan Elasi in an extended squad.
Sydney, on the other hand, is without two of its most experienced players.