The milestone adds to what has quickly become one of the most anticipated regular season matches in the short history of the A-League, with Melbourne Victory currently sitting three points ahead of their fierce rivals Sydney FC on top of the ladder.

Former Socceroo and current Central Coast Mariners assistant coach Alex Tobin is the only other Australian to have reached the milestone, having made 522 league appearances over a 19-year career in the old National Soccer League.

Muscat, who ironically made his league debut under current Melbourne Victory coach Ernie Merrick at Sunshine George Cross in 1989, is one of Australia's most decorated footballers, having captained the country at every age level.

The defensive stalwart plied his trade at Heidelberg United and South Melbourne in the NSL before embarking on a 10-year stint in Europe, where he played for Crystal Palace in the English Premier League, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Rangers and Millwall.

Muscat was part of the Rangers side that won the Scottish treble in 2002/03 and went on to lead Millwall to its first ever FA Cup Final in 2004, before returning to Australia for the inaugural Hyundai A-League season.

Muscat has played in 91 of Melbourne Victory's 108 matches to date, scored 23 goals, captained the side to its record two A-League Premierships and Championships and claimed three Victory Medals as the club's best and fairest player in the process.

A special presentation will be made to Muscat at Etihad Stadium on Saturday before the 8pm kick off.

Muscat's 499th appearance was yesterday's 3-0 win over Central Coast Mariners, a result that delighted boss Ernie Merrick. Speaking after the game he said: "We were keen to play an interpassing game and keep creating chances and get our full-backs forward and we did it really well.

"It's always important to win, we didn't worry too much about the two previous matches (against Central Coast). "In both we didn't play to our style. "This was our best away performance of the season."

Goalscorer Matthew Kemp was delighted after scoring his first goal for Melbourne. "It was a bit long coming, I'm happy to finally get the duck off my back," Kemp said.

There was some bad news for Melbourne with midfielder Surat Sukha likely to be out of action for about a month with a hamstring injury. Sukha was carried off just before half-time.