The 34 year-old is the only current Adelaide United player who was part of the club’s inaugural squad back in 2003.

Valkanis was a member of The Reds’ A-League premiers squad in 2005/06, before he won two consecutive Pre-Season Cup titles in 2006 and 2007, the second as captain.

He would have reached the century milestone last season but a serious knee injury in September 2007 forced him out for close to a year.

Since recovering from the injury, Valkanis has found it difficult to break into United’s line up throughout the AFC Champions League knockout stage, due to the formidable partnership formed by Angelo Costanzo and Sasa Ognenovski in the centre of The Reds’ defence.

But with Costanzo out of tonight's second leg against Gamba Osaka through suspension and Daniel Mullen on international duty with the Young Socceroos, Valkanis is set to make his 100th appearance in the biggest game of the club’s history.

He said: “I have done the hard yards for it and it has probably been harder since I came back because the team has been doing so well and it has been hard for me to break in.

“But I’ve been doing the hard work and it’s true that if you keep persisting your chance will come and it hasn’t come at a better time, an Asian Champions League Final.

“I’ve been here since day one of the club and it means a lot to be able to represent Adelaide United in the Asian Champions League Final.”

Valkanis joins Richie Alagich, Angelo Costanzo and Travis Dodd as the only other players to make 100 appearances for Adelaide United.