FFA Cup – Semi Final Melbourne Victory 0 v 2 Melbourne City FC

Westfield FFA Cup – Semi Final Melbourne Victory 0 v 2 Melbourne City FC

Referee: Shaun Evans Crowd: 15,791

Scoring 0-1 9’ Luke Brattan (Melbourne City FC) 0-2 77’ Fernando Brandan (Melbourne City FC)

Disciplinary Summary Caution 34’ Jason Geria (Melbourne Victory) Caution 51’ Alan Baro (Melbourne Victory) Caution 73’ Leigh Broxham (Melbourne Victory) Caution 78’ Fernando Brandan (Melbourne City FC) Caution 82’ Besart Berisha (Melbourne Victory FC) Caution 82’ Michael Jakobsen (Melbourne City FC) Caution 84’ Carl Valeri (Melbourne Victory)

Line-ups: Melbourne City FC: 20. Dean Bouzanis (GK), 2. Manny Muscat, 3. Joshua Rose, 8. Neil Kilkenny, 10. Anthony Caceres (4. Connor Chapman 61’), 12. Nick Fitzgerald (5. Ivan Franjic 90+3'), 17. Tim Cahill (18. Paulo Retre 69’), 22. Michael Jakobsen, 23. Bruno Fornaroli (c), 26. Luke Brattan, 27. Fernando Brandan Substitutes not used: 1. Thomas Sorensen (GK), 35. Christian Cavallo Head Coach: John van’t Schip

Melbourne Victory: 20. Lawrence Thomas (GK), 2. Jason Geria, 4. Nick Ansell, 5. Daniel Georgievski, 6. Leigh Broxham, 7. Marco Rojas, 8. Besart Berisha, 14. Fahid Ben Khalfallah (25. Sebastian Pasquali 60’), 15. Alan Baro, 16. Rashid Mahazi (13. Oliver Bozanic 75’), 21. Carl Valeri Substitutes not used: 27. Alistair Bray (GK), 11. Mitch Austin, 17. James Donachie Head Coach: Kevin Muscat

Melbourne City booked its spot in the Westfield FFA Cup final after defeating rivals Melbourne Victory 2-0 in a fiery Melbourne Derby at AAMI Park on Tuesday night. It was an encapsulating contest from beginning to finish, with the second biggest FFA Cup crowd of 15,791 flocking through the gates to witness another Melbourne Derby encounter which produced plenty of fireworks. Luke Brattan got the ball rolling with a long range strike after just nine minutes, while Fernando Brandan put the icing on the cake in the second-half to send City to its first ever FFA Cup final.

Melbourne City FC's 2-0 win over Melbourne Victory secured a first-ever Westfield FFA Cup Final appearance.

City will face Sydney FC in the Westfield FFA Cup Final 2016 on Wednesday 30 November at AAMI Park, Melbourne.

Midfielder Luke Brattan scored his second goal for the club – both goals coming in Melbourne Derbies – the first in the Round 2 A-League fixture and the FFA Cup Semi Final.

City winger Fernando Brandan scored his third goal in as many matches – two in the A-League and once in Tuesday night's FFA Cup Semi Final The Argentine has now scored four goals in all competitions this season, with his other strike coming in the 4-1 win over Western Sydney Wanderers in the FFA Cup.

Melbourne City FC Head Coach, John van’t Schip

About qualifying for the final… “It feels good. I think we look forward to this game first. After the draw and after the first game we played a few days ago at Etihad, this was again a big opportunity for players to play on a big stage and they did very good. As a result, we’re in the final and we’re very happy about that of course.

About the contest… “We were disciplined, we knew that there was going to be a lot of emotion especially after the last game. Looking at the game we played against Perth and the game that Victory played in Adelaide, we had to bounce back but also knowing that we had a great performance in the first game, we wanted to be on top immediately again. It was tougher today because they were fired up and they showed that they were out there to try to get a result but I think that’s the quality of our team.

About what the win means for the club… “It means a lot because we are in the final but of course, when we come into the final, we want to win the final, that’s what finals are for so we have Adelaide, it’s still a long while before we play the final but we have a lot of league games in-between.

“We just have to focus now on Adelaide because this is history, it’s gone, we take it with us, it’s a great achievement but Friday is Adelaide and that’s the next important game.

About the reaction from last week… “Everybody knows that this is a one-off game, so it’s a game that is different from league games, there are still a lot of games to go but this was a must-win.

“Of course you want to win every game but the consequences of not winning a game like this is that you are not going to play a final so I think everybody was motivated, prepared and ready.

About the way City attack… “We know that the way that we play, we want to use the space and in the end, if we can get players like [Fernando] Brandan and [Nick] Fitzgerald on the ball, it doesn’t mean that you have to go through that side but if not, we can try to circulate it back and go to the other side. We just want to use the ball and have the ball and play in spaces and sometimes the left side is going to be used more, sometimes the right. It’s not that specific for us to do that, it’s just how the game goes.

injury concerns…

“I think Bruce [Kamau] will be okay but we have to look. We thought he was okay for today but in the end, it wasn’t the case. It was great to have Fitzy stepping in and he did a great job. We’ll just have to see how everybody pulls up tomorrow and we’ll have to see which players we can line up.

“We have the depth, we’re not afraid of that. We just have to see how everybody feels, how they come out of this game. it’s been a tough last few days and there is still a few days ahead of us before we get a week where we can have a bit of a rest in recovering but we have to keep on going. Friday is another good opportunity again to make a step forward.”