Hernandez put on a tremendous show for Melbourne in the 4-0 drubbing of Adelaide United, just 54 hours after playing for Costa Rica in San Jose.

Coach Merrick said: "The bonus for us was he only played 37 minutes for Costa Rica and he managed to sleep 10 hours on the flight so he was pretty fresh.

"Carlos was one of 15 players that I thought was quite outstanding for Melbourne Victory today.

"He was up for it but then so was everyone else in the team. There was more than player involved (in the success)."

Merrick accepted that the tie was over by the break but that he still wanted standards to remain very high.

He said: "We knew we had the game won at half-time but felt it was very important to keep our standards up and we didn't want any yellow cards or to concede a goal.

"It was great to see not only that fantastic attacking play but I thought the boys at the back did their upmost to make sure we didn't concede."

"The last couple of weeks we just seem to have got better and better."

While Merrick was reluctant to heap too much praise on Hernandez, Victory skipper Kevin Muscat had no such hesitations describing the Costa Rican's devastating performance as full of character.

"He was determined to play the game and that is how far his character has come," Merrick said of Hernandez.

"He thinks like an Australian now, he is determined and his attitude was superb."

"I spoke to him before the game and said you could kill this tie off in 45 minutes and it only took him 25 minutes (by which time he had set up one goal and scored another) so he has done really well."