Melbourne Victory Archive

📅 ON THIS DAY | 7 NOVEMBER 2015 Victory secure first Cup title. On this day 11 years ago we played in and won our first FFA/Australia Cup trophy. In front of 15,000 at AAMI Park, we took control of the game late in the first half, with Oliver Bozanic and Besart Berisha giving us a 2-0 lead going into the break. That was a scoreline we'd hold onto until the final whistle. The only sour note was Carl Valeri picking up a second yellow with a handful of minutes left. (1/2)

Lose yourself in EIGHT minutes of Rojas goals for the Victory, thanks to @victoryarchive on YouTube. youtu.be/gJ5qQUw0CbY?si=07v6…

Every goal Bruno scored for the Vuck below, thanks to @victoryarchive on YouTube. youtu.be/VpXkIVJJM8s?si=opkX…

📅 ON THIS DAY | 3 NOVEMBER 2014 Victory win on Cup Eve and secure first Clean Sheet in 22 matches. As was tradition, the Vuck welcomed the Nix to Melbourne on the Monday before the Cup. We had a number of key players unavailable, with Adrian Leijer and Daniel Georgievski both suspended, and Besart Berisha and Matthieu Delpierre out injured. In front of a crowd of 24,000, we opened the scoring after 24 minutes. Gui Finkler stood over a free-kick wide out on the left. He swung a speculative ball into the box which flashed between Nix keeper Glen Moss and the pack of bodies and nestled into the back of the net. We'd have to wait til just after the hour mark to extend the lead. A typical Melbourne Victory counter finished off by Connor Pain, who'd been on for less than a minute, with his first touch of the ball. The clean sheet was our first in 22 games, when we beat Perth Glory by the same scoreline nearly 12 months earlier. (1/2)

Highlights of the 3-3 draw below from @victoryarchive on YouTube. youtu.be/83IaJadl-uU?si=2PgI…

📅 ON THIS DAY | 31 OCTOBER 2016 🎃 A Halloween Demolition Job Against the Nix On the Monday of the Cup long weekend in 2016, we welcomed Wellington Phoenix across the Tasman for a Round 4 clash at Etihad Stadium. The Victory made two changes from the 2-1 away win against Adelaide the week before in the league, with Rashid Mahazi replacing Carl Valeri in midfield, and James Troisi coming onto the bench to replace Sebastian Pasquali. Mid-week we were knocked out of the Cup at Semi Final stage by our cross-town rivals. The Phoenix contained familiar names in Ernie Merrick, Glen Moss, Vince Lia and Kosta Barbarbouses. And for the first time as an opponent, Gui Finkler. After a goalless first 20 minutes, the Vuck took control of the game with two penalties in two minutes converted by Besart Berisha. On the hour mark Dylan Fox got his marching orders after a second yellow, but it was the visitors who responded better. A few minutes later it was Krishna who stepped up and scored from the spot to make it 2-1. From here Victory put their foot down. Two goals in the last 20 minutes from Marco Rojas, and goals from Berisha completing his hattrick and Mitch Austin secure the big 6-1 win. The win gave us a 2-1-1 start to the season. We'd go on to finish a distant second and we'd qualify for the grand final in which nothing of note took place.

⏪ ROUND REWIND | ROUND 3 As we prepare for our round 3 clash against the Mariners on the weekend, lets take a look at a round 3 match from days past. In 2008/09, we faced off against reigning champions Newcastle Jets at the Telstra Dome. We had a scoreless draw away in the Big Blue to start the season, before a solid 4-2 win away to Wellington. The Jets had started their title defence with two draws. A Friday night crowd of over 22,000 saw a strong Victory side take a 2-0 lead into the break thanks to goals from Carlos Hernandez and Archie Thompson. Thompson had started the match on the bench, but an injury to Michael Thwaite forced Ernie Merrick into an early change, bringing the striker on for the defender. A quickfire second half double from Danny Allsopp made it 4-0, before late substitute Grant Brebner made it 5-0 with his first touch of the ball. 2008-09 finished with a Premiership/Championship double for the Vuck. A treble when the Pre-Season Cup is added to the mix. For the Jets, the reigning champs finished rock-bottom. (1/2)

📅 ON THIS DAY | 29 OCTOBER 2023 Unstoppable Bruno FOURnaroli Bruno Fornaroli goes nuts and bags four first half goals to help guide Melbourne Victory to an early season win at home to Newcastle Jets. The Vuck conceded the lead early on, before Fornaroli got rolling. His four goals giving us a 4-1 lead at the break. Nishan Velupillay got on the scoresheet in the second half as we cruised to a 5-3 win. Six weeks later Fornaroli would be at it again, scoring four more in a 4-3 away win against the Wanderers. This run of form contributed to the Uruguayan being called up to represent the Socceroos at the Asian Cup in December that year.

📅 ON THIS DAY | 28 OCTOBER 2015 Melbourne Victory Qualify for Our First FFA Cup Final Drawn against fellow Victorians Hume City, a win would see the Vuck qualify for the cup final for the first time. A week earlier Perth Glory secured their spot in the final with a win against Melbourne City, stealing the opportunity for the first Melbourne Derby final. Hume City proved a much tougher rival than the 3-0 result would suggest. It took a Besart Berisha penalty late in the first half to break the deadlock. We held the slender lead until the last minutes, when goals from Kosta Barbarouses and Jason Geria secured the win. A couple of weeks later we were back at AAMI Park and lifted the Cup for the first ever time, with a 2-0 against Perth. Goals below thanks to @victoryarchive on YouTube youtu.be/rDopKvJYFwc?si=33-g…

📅 ON THIS DAY | 27 OCTOBER 2006 Victory Put Four Past New Zealand Knights We visited Auckland and bagged an easy 4-0 win. In what would be the last time we'd face the Knights in NZ, an early Fred goal was added to by Archie, Caceres and Allsopp secured the three points. Despite a historically poor two season stint in the A-League, the Knights were able to pick up at least a point against every team, except us. We played them six times, walking away with six wins. The final win in 2006/07 secured our first silverware on a famous night at Olympic Park. (1/2)

🚨MELBOURNE VICTORY FANS🚨 I'll be taking you on a trip down memory lane. A full list of every MVFC player to appear for the senior men's team in a competitive match from 2005 to now, in order of debut. I'll kick-start this over the next few days. Follow and stay tuned!