Neither club would comment on the altercation between the custodian and Albanian marksman post match, but some fans took to Twitter demanding swift action by the Match Review Panel.

Victory won the match 2-1 despite Bouzanis pulling off a fine save to deny Berisha from the penalty spot.

In the 86th minute Victory, who had come from a goal down, took the lead after Jason Geria’s ball into the area was sliced into the back of the net by Manny Muscat for an own goal - Bouzanis lived when Berisha threw the ball at him.

The winner was originally adjudged as offside but after referee Chris Beath consulted with his assistants, the call was overruled as the striker did not obstruct the goalkeeper.

City coach Michael Valkanis and Victory assistant coach Jean-Paul de Marigny refused to weigh in on Bouzanis’ apparent insult of Berisha  picked up on TV replays.

But on Sunday the club issued a statement saying the goalkeeper was unaware of the seriousness of his comments.

The statement said: "Melbourne City offered an immediate apology to Melbourne Victory for the player’s actions and will make a formal apology to Melbourne Victory and the player today.

"Bouzanis admitted making the remarks out of ignorance; however, has since understood the seriousness of his comments. Once informed of the gravity of his actions, Bouzanis committed to redressing the offence at the earliest opportunity.

"As such, he will issue a formal and personal apology to the player and begin an appropriate educational course to rectify the gaps in his understanding. The club regrets the incident and any offence caused." 

Victory storm home to take derby

Meanwhile Jean-Paul de Marigny was comfortable with the winning goal despite the fallout.

“I wasn’t surprised (the goal stood) because it was an own goal,” he said.

“We got behind them, Marco got behind the fullback Colazo. Bes is in an offside position, doesn’t interfere with the goalkeeper and unfortunately for them and great for us the defender scores.

 “It was very clear in my mind it was a goal because it’s an own goal.”

And after Berisha squandered his third penalty of the season, de Marigny said the Albanian still had the responsibility from the spot.

“Bes will decide if he well takes the penalty or not, it’s as simple as that,” he said.

“That’s why he’s been the top goal scorer and one of the best players in the league for the last five years. So he won’t shirk his responsibility if he feels he needs to take another penalty.”

Valkanis shied away from talking about the kerfuffle in the final stages.

“There were some contentious decisions that I’m not going to speak about it now,” Valkanis said.

“We’ll have to look at the video, analyse it, see exactly what happened and we’ll take it from there but to speak about that now is not the time.”

In a night of high drama, City star Tim Cahill was also red carded as he was waiting on the sideline to be substituted on. However Valkanis said he was not given an explanation.

Valkanis added: “There are some things that happened I’ve never seen in my footballing career, so I’m not sure what happened Tim, you’d have to ask the ref because he was about to come on.”

Michael Jakobsen was substituted at half-time with a calf injury in place of Ruon Tongyik, but could still be in contention for next week’s game against Brisbane Roar according to Valkanis.