Scoutmania

Melbourne City are crowned the 2025 A-League Champions in a one-sided Melbourne Derby thanks to Yonatan Cohen’s 10th-minute strike.

Melbourne City played with a 4-2-3-1, with a line-up containing many internationals and Australian national team players. City dominated down the wings – on the left, Socceroo Aziz Behich overlapped in support of Celtic loanee Marco Tilio, and on the right, Yonatan Cohen‘s 1v1 against Victory’s left back Kasey Bos. For City’s only goal, Behich started the move with his run, and Cohen finished the move with a furious strike. Questions will be asked on the Cohen Bos match-up and whether the more experienced left back Adama Traoré should have started, given Cohen’s previous success against Bos’ defensive positioning in the December Melbourne Derby and Cohen’s red-hot form in the finals series.

Melbourne City dominated the midfield battle. City’s midfield trio of Steven Ugarokovic, Mathew Leckie and Andreas Kuen were massive bodies against the miniature Jordi Valadon, Ryan Teague and experienced Zinédine Machach. City must be credited for its strength and conditioning, as the players were significantly stronger and made more high-intensity sprints.

Melbourne Victory fielded a 4-2-3-1, with Zinédine Machach finding spaces behind Leckie to create and take dangerous shots on goal, and star winger Daniel Arzani completing 5 successful take-ons; Melbourne City often surrounded him with 2-3 players. Goalkeeper Jack Duncan also made excellent stops to deny City of more goals. A highlight of the game was Arzani‘s turn and flick on the byline (see image below), reminiscent of Andreas Iniesta‘s dribbling during his time at Barcelona.

Melbourne Victory’s 2nd half and handball controversy

It was difficult to describe Melbourne Victory’s plan in the 2nd half. While the team was expected to press high, they did not build on the advantage they had in the 1st half. With Arzani creating trouble on both City flanks, could there have been a 2v1 overload with Zinédine Machach, midfield runs from semi-final difference maker Jordi Valadon or runs from left back Kasey Bos? With City’s centre back, German Ferreyra, having a history as a right back, could Victory have challenged him more in the air and on the ground? And with Patrick Beach dropping a corner in the December Melbourne Derby, could Victory have crowded him and forced him to punch or catch in the set piece?

The crucial moment for Victory came when Arzani played a cross towards Behich‘s back post, where centre back Kai Trewin headed the ball into Ferreyra with his arm in an unnatural position, with the ball potentially landing on the dangerous Machach without the deviation (see image below).

Unfortunately, Victory’s substitutions came a little too late. Alexander Badolato came on in the 60th minute with 0 successful take-ons, and ex-Panetolikos man Nikolaos Vergos came on for club stalwart Bruno Fornaroli in the 74th minute, with Lachlan Jackson‘s unfortunate injury causing Victory to lose its advantage in attacking corners with 196 cm Jackson vs 183 cm Ferreyra. Left winger and beautiful crosser Reno Piscopo and target man / left winger Jing Reec only had 1 minute of regulation time plus 7 minutes of stoppage time to impact the game.

Here is the player who stood out in this match:

Kai Trewin (Melbourne City), Left Centre Back, 2001

It could be Joe Marston Medalist Mathew Leckie, it could be match winner Yonatan Cohen, but the pick is young gun Kai Trewin, who has already received a national team call-up earlier in the year. Other than the nervy handball incident in the 2nd half, Kai was solid throughout. He was strong, positionally sound, and the Victory players did not get behind him. Comfortable playing with both feet, he would be attractive to teams to want to play out with a left-footed centre back. With many Australians in Viking (Norway) and Randers (Denmark), plus Scotland and the English Championship proving to be popular destinations for Australian players in recent years, there will be no shortage of suitors in the upcoming transfer window.