Sydney FC’s run of nine games unbeaten has come to an end with a 3-2 defeat against Melbourne City.
It leaves the Sky Blues still chasing Finals football with five A-League games remaining starting and a game in hand as they travel to Adelaide next weekend.
Sydney FC 2 (Courtney-Perkins 28’, Costa 39’) def. by Melbourne City FC 3 (Memeti 5’, Caputo 35’, Lopane 61’)
Moments That Mattered:
5’ | MEMETI GOAL – Whipped in ball towards the back post, falls neatly into the path of Memeti who taps it past Devenish-Meares to give Melbourne City the lead.
7’ | SENA INJURY – A challenge from behind makes for a stoppage, and Sena collapses holding his ankle forcing an early substitution for the Sky Blues bringing on Segecic to replace him.
14’ | BEACH CHALLENGE – A beautiful over the top ball from Costa falls kindly into the path of Segecic who makes the forward run, Beach makes the last ditch save, connecting with both the ball and Segecic to keep Melbourne City in front.
28’ | COURTNEY-PERKINS GOAL – A perfectly timed corner from Costa enables Courtney-Perkins to make the darting run past the Melbourne City defenders, connecting with his head at the near post and rifling the ball beyond Beach even up the scores.
35’ | CAPUTO GOAL – Tilio threads the through ball past the Sydney FC backline, a low driven shot by Caputo beyond Devenish-Meares puts the away side in front 2-1.
39’ | COSTA GOAL – Costa’s fancy footwork baffles Melbourne City’s central defender Souprayen, finding the opening in the defence and wasting no time in blasting the ball in the top-right corner, Sydney FC level 2-2.
61’ | LOPANE GOAL – Kuen beats his marker, finding Lopane in space who rockets his shot into the bottom left corner beating the Sydney FC keeper to it, Melbourne City take the advantage 3-2.
71’ | BEACH SAVE – Caceres finds his way inside the box, weaving past the Melbourne City defender to create an opportunity for a shot in the bottom left-hand corner, Beach gets down low and at full stretch makes the save.
Match Report: Sydney FC have lost in frustrating fashion at home to rivals Melbourne City FC with the visitors winning 3-2 and leaving the Sky Blues 7th on the table and work to do to earn a Final sport.
Melbourne City took the lead in the 5th minute of play when a perfectly timed ball towards the back post from Tilio made for easy pickings for Memeti, tapping it past Devenish Meares for 1-0.
An early blow to the Sky Blues midfield came in the 7th minute after a challenge on Sena via a mistimed tackle from Caputo, had him holding his ankle and he left the field on a stretcher with Segecic replacing him.
Sydney FC recomposed themselves with a series of chances, breaking level in the 29th minute when an appealingly crafted set-piece corner from Costa, enabled Courtney-Perkins to make the darting run in, rifling a headed ball beyond Beach to level at 1-1.
Melbourne City found their way ahead again with a 35th minute goal when a break in the Sydney FC back-line allowed for a threaded ball towards Caputo, and a low driven shot sends them 2-1 up.
Here are the highlights from Sydney FC vs Melbourne City FC in the Isuzu UTE A-League clash at Allianz Stadium in March 2025
Four minutes later the Sky Blues bit back with a response with Costa’s Brazilian flair making it difficult for the Melbourne City central defenders
He crafted an opening to shoot and blasted a shot into the top right corner to get Ufuk Talay’s side level again at half time and it was his first A-League home goal of the season.
The drama continued in the second half drama with both teams on the front of foot against each other’s respective backlines, and there were multiple chances from both attackers which went abegging,
However it was City who eventually created something out of nothing with Kuen finding a pass to Lopane who rocketed a ball beyond the hands of Devenish-Meares, to give the away side a 3-2 lead.
It was a lead they wouldn’t give up as Sydney FC struggled to get a footing on the remainder of the game.
Melbourne City’s forward line tested Devenish-Meares a few more times as the game came to a conclusion but weren’t able to break the rearguard again.
This leaves Sydney FC 7th on the table but still with a chance of a Finals spot with five games to go.
Ufuk Talay speaks with Paramount Plus after the Sydney FC vs Melbourne City FC in the Isuzu UTE A-League clash at Allianz Stadium in March 2025
Post-Match Coach’s Interview: Ufuk Talay (Sydney FC Head Coach)
What They Said: Ufuk Talay: “We let them capitalize on our slow start. Credit to the boys though they did well to get themselves back in the game twice.
“We conceded a goal where we didn’t defend well. I don’t think we defended our box with enough desperation this afternoon, and that led to us losing the game 3-2.
“We’re disappointed. We’d been on a good run nine unbeaten until now. But we’re still in a strong position to push into the A-League top six and well placed in the ACL to reach a final.
“Today was the first time in my time at the club that I showed the players the table before a game.
“Normally, we focus purely on performance because we believe that if we perform well, eight times out of ten we’ll get the result.”
Sydney FC (Home) | Formation: 4-4-2: 12. Harrison DEVENISH-MEARES (GK), 5. Alex GRANT, 41. Alexander POPOVIC (6. Corey HOLLMAN 64’), 4. Jordan COURTNEY-PERKINS, 16. Joel KING (21. Zachary De JESUS 56’), 17. Anthony CACERES (C), 11. Douglas COSTA, 15. Leonardo De Souza SENA (7. Adrian SEGECIC 10’), 24. Wataru KAMIJO, 9. Patryk KLIMALA (25. Jaiden KUCHARSKI 64’), 10. Joesph LOLLEY (20. Tiago QUINTAL 64’)
Head Coach: Ufuk TALAY
Unused Substitutions: 1. Andrew REDMAYNE (GK), 8. Anas OUAHIM
Yellow Cards: Jordan COURTNEY-PERKINS 19’.
Red Cards: None
Melbourne City FC (Away) | Formation: 5-3-2: 33. Patrick BEACH (GK), 27. Kai TREWIN, 26. Samuel SOUPRAYEN, 22. German FERREYRA, 30. Andreas KUEN (41. Lawrence Wong 86’), 16. Aziz BEHICH (C), 13. Nathaniel ATKINSON, 21. Alessandro LOPANE (19. Zane SCHEIBER 77’), 23. Marco TILIO (10. Yonatan Cohen 86’), 17. Max CAPUTO (38. Harry POLITIDIS 77’), 35. Medin MEMETI (47. Kavian RAHMANI 68’)
Head Coach: Aurelio VIDMAR
Unused Substitutions: 60. Lachlan CHARLES (GK), 2. Callum TALBOT.
Yellow Cards: Aziz BEHICH 45+5’, Nathaniel ATKINSON 59’, Patrick BEACH 79’, Lawernce WONG 90+5’
Red Cards: None
Venue: Allianz Stadium, Sydney
Referee: Adam KERSEY
Attendance: 13,268
