The 36-year-old faces a struggle to be fit for Tuesday night's clash with Seongnam Ilhwa of South Korea after leading Melbourne to a thrilling in extra-time win over Sydney, 4-3 on aggregate.

It was Muscat's pinpoint pass to striker Archie Thompson in the 114th minute that set up the equalising goal and earned Victory the right to host the A-League Grand Final on Saturday week.

For now, however, the prospect of claiming Melbourne's third domestic title in four seasons is secondary to the task at hand - making the most of the little time available to prepare for Tuesday night.

"If you want the honest answer, it's ridiculous," Muscat said when asked about the tight schedule. "There's no doubt that we're taking the (ACL) competition seriously.

"We want to qualify and expect to qualify, but the reality is to be anywhere near full strength and to be anywhere near 100 percent in terms of the way we play is a massive ask."

Muscat said Sunday's clash had taken an emotional and physical toll on the Victory players that was exacerbated by having to play 30 minutes of extra time.

He hinted that he faced a battle to be fully fit to take on the South Koreans who won their first qualifying match against group opponents Kawasaki Frontale of Japan, 2-0.

"I want to play, but at this point in time we'll just have to wait 'til tomorrow to get through the recovery," Muscat said. "We've still got 18 hours tomorrow to see if I can get up.

"It's going to be difficult for everyone, not only myself, but I certainly want to play."

Victory coach Ernie Merrick said he rates strikers Archie Thompson and Robbie Kruse a 'good bet' to play after making it safely through Sunday's clash.

Thompson had been sidelined for five weeks with foot stress fractures while the match was Kruse's first since he sustained a nasty ankle injury against Sydney when hacked down from behind in the final round of the regular season in mid-February.

"Two days ago we assessed them and the medical staff more or less said you've got 60 minutes in Robbie and you've got half-an-hour max in Archie," Merrick said.

"We didn't plan on extra time at that stage, but Archie said he felt terrific in extra time and given they've both played an hour each, two days later I think they'll have a good chance of getting game time.

"I'm not sure whether from the start yet or not, but I think Archie and Robbie will both be available."

Merrick nominated Tom Pondeljak, who has hamstring tightness, as the Victory's main injury concern.