Sydney FC devastated Warren Joyce's men 4-0, with a no holds barred performance where all 11 men on the pitch played at their exceptional best.

A frantic opening half allowed for both teams to create an even amount of opportunities, with Daniel Arzani again the bright spark for City going forward. The significant turning point of the game occurred when Dean Bouzanis brought down Sydney captain Alex Brosque, who drew the foul intelligently by nudging the ball past Bouzanis to force the penalty. From then on, Sydney controlled the game.

City faced difficulty in playing their passing centred game against a Sydney midfield dominated by Josh Brilliante and Brandon O’Neill, as well as finding attacking opportunities limited by the diligent defensive effort of Sydney’s back four. There was no happy return for Bruno Fornaroli facing up against a rampant Sydney; but he will definitely need to be firing in City’s lead up to the finals.

Melbourne City

Dean Bouzanis — 4

Poorly brought down Brosque but nearly made up for it as he read the path of Bobo’s penalty. Beyond a near save Bouzanis was luckless throughout."

Manny Muscat — 5

Was unable to handle the pace and trickery of Ninkovic and co. Lacked the capacity to be an effective outlet on the right. Substituted for the returning Fornaroli.

Harrison Delbridge — 4

Did little to prevent Sydney FC’s ruthlessness.

Bart Schenkeveld — 6

The Dutchman’s quality was shown through the preventative measures he utilised throughout, reading Sydney’s through balls intelligently many times and clearing off the line when the game could have been four nil.

Scott Jamieson — 5

Constantly marauding and seeking to create opportunities for his teammates, but his crossing let him down at times.