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Revision as of 12:58, 23 February 2022

2021 A-League Grand Final
A panorama of AAMI Park prior to kick off
Event2020–21 A-League
Melbourne City Sydney FC
3 1
Date27 June 2021
VenueAAMI Park, Melbourne
Joe Marston MedalNathaniel Atkinson
RefereeChris Beath
Attendance14,017
WeatherSunny and clear 12.0 °C (53.6 °F)
← 2020
2022 →

The 2021 A-League Grand Final was the 16th A-League Grand Final, the championship-deciding match of the Australian A-League and the culmination of the 2020–21 season. The match was played between season premiers Melbourne City and the second-placed team and championship holders Sydney FC on 27 June 2021 at AAMI Park in Melbourne.[1][2][3]

Melbourne City won their first championship by beating Sydney 3–1.

Teams

In the following table, finals until 2004 were in the National Soccer League era, since 2006 were in the A-League era.

Team Previous final appearances (bold indicates winners)
Melbourne City 1 (2020)
Sydney FC 6 (2006, 2010, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2020)

Route to the final

See also: 2020–21 A-League, 2020–21 Melbourne City FC season, and 2020–21 Sydney FC season

The 2020–21 season was the league's sixteenth since its inception in 2005, and the 44th season of top-flight association football in Australia. Twelve teams competed in the regular season, with each team playing a total of 26 matches, resulting in an uneven fixture that involved some clubs meeting three times and others meeting only twice. The top six teams qualified for the finals series, which were played in a straight-knockout format, with the top two teams earning an automatic place in the semi-finals and the bottom four teams playing off in elimination finals. The two winners of the semi-finals met in the grand final. Melbourne City and Sydney FC qualified for the semi-finals by virtue of finishing first and second respectively, whilst Central Coast Mariners (third) met Macarthur FC (sixth) in the first elimination final and Brisbane Roar (fourth) took on Adelaide United (fifth) in the second elimination final. Macarthur defeated Central Coast Mariners two goals to nil, both goals coming in extra time and Adelaide United defeated Brisbane Roar two goals to one. As the top-ranked team, Melbourne City were paired with and defeated Macarthur, the lowest-ranked winning team, 2–0, for their semi-final, whilst Sydney FC were victorious against Adelaide United in the other semi-final, the scoreline being 2–1.

Due to crowd restrictions imposed as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Victoria, Melbourne City's home semi-final was moved to Netstrata Jubilee Stadium in New South Wales.[4]

Melbourne City Round Sydney FC
1st place
Pos Team
 Pld Pts
1 Melbourne City (C) 26 49
2 Sydney FC 26 47
3 Central Coast Mariners 26 42
4 Brisbane Roar 26 40
5 Adelaide United 26 39
Source: A-Leagues
(C) Champions
 Regular season 2nd place
Pos Team
 Pld Pts
1 Melbourne City (C) 26 49
2 Sydney FC 26 47
3 Central Coast Mariners 26 42
4 Brisbane Roar 26 40
5 Adelaide United 26 39
Source: A-Leagues
(C) Champions
Opponent Score Opponent Score
Bye week N/A Elimination finals Bye week N/A
Macarthur FC 2–0 Semi-finals Adelaide United 2–1

Pre-match

AAMI Park in Melbourne hosted the Grand Final

Venue

The Grand Final was held at AAMI Park, Melbourne, Victoria, the home ground of Melbourne City.[5] It was the second Grand Final hosted at the venue, after 2015.

Attendance

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the stadium was limited to 50% capacity.[6] Tickets for the game were sold out, resulting in a final attendance of 14,017 spectators.[7] Due to a COVID-19 lockdown in Sydney, many travelling fans for the away team were unable to attend the match.[8]

Broadcasting

The Grand Final was broadcast throughout Australia live on Fox Sports and streamed for free on Kayo Sports through the Kayo Freebies initiative.[9] This was also the last A-League match broadcast on Fox Sports after a sixteen year association with the broadcaster, with the A-League moving to Network 10 and Paramount+.[10] In the United States, the Grand Final was shown on ESPN+.

Match

Summary

Despite early dominance from Melbourne City, they slipped to an early disadvantage after Sydney FC's Kosta Barbarouses hit a powerful effort past City goalkeeper Thomas Glover. Shortly after this goal, the eventual Joe Marston medalist Nathaniel Atkinson scored for City to put the teams level at 1–1. In the 35th minute of the match, Sydney midfielder Luke Brattan was sent off after accumulating two yellow cards, allowing Melbourne to continue to dominate after this point in the match. They eventually won the game 3–1 thanks to further goals from captain Scott Jamieson and Scott Galloway, and claimed their first A-League championship.[11][12]

Details

Melbourne City3–1Sydney FC
 Report Barbarouses 21'
Attendance: 14,017
Referee: Chris Beath
Melbourne City
Sydney FC
GK 1 Australia Tom Glover
RB 2 Australia Scott Galloway
CB 4 Portugal Nuno Reis
CB 7 Australia Rostyn Griffiths
LB 3 Australia Scott Jamieson (c)
CM 10 France Florin Berenguer
CM 8 Australia Aiden O'Neill
CM 20 Uruguay Adrián Luna
RF 13 Australia Nathaniel Atkinson
CF 17 Australia Stefan Colakovski Yellow card 73' downward-facing red arrow 74'
LF 23 Australia Marco Tilio Yellow card 54'
Substitutes:
GK 33 Australia Matt Sutton
DF 19 Australia Ben Garuccio
DF 36 Australia Kerrin Stokes
MF 16 Australia Taras Gomulka
FW 11 England Craig Noone
FW 15 Australia Andrew Nabbout upward-facing green arrow 74'
FW 35 Australia Raphael Borges Rodrigues
Head coach:
Australia Patrick Kisnorbo
GK 20 Australia Tom Heward-Belle
RB 8 Australia Paulo Retre
CB 4 Australia Alex Wilkinson (c)
CB 3 Australia Ben Warland
LB 16 Australia Joel King
CM 17 Australia Anthony Caceres downward-facing red arrow 86'
CM 26 Australia Luke Brattan Yellow card 25' Yellow-red card 35'
RM 11 New Zealand Kosta Barbarouses
LM 5 Germany Alexander Baumjohann downward-facing red arrow 72'
CF 9 Brazil Bobô downward-facing red arrow 38'
CF 99 England Adam Le Fondre
Substitutes:
GK 30 Australia Adam Pavlesic
DF 2 Australia Patrick Flottmann
DF 21 Australia Harry Van Der Saag upward-facing green arrow 38'
DF 25 Australia Callum Talbot
MF 10 Serbia Miloš Ninković upward-facing green arrow 72'
FW 18 Australia Luke Ivanovic
FW 33 Australia Patrick Wood upward-facing green arrow 86'
Head coach:
Australia Steve Corica

Joe Marston Medal:
Nathaniel Atkinson (Melbourne City)

Assistant referees:
Matthew Cream
Nathan MacDonald
Fourth official:
Daniel Elder
Fifth official:
Wilson Brown
Video assistant referee:
Kris Griffiths-Jones

Match rules

  • 90 minutes.
  • 30 minutes of extra time if necessary.
  • Penalty shoot-out if scores still level.
  • Seven named substitutes.
  • Maximum of three substitutions, with a fourth allowed in extra time.

Statistics

Overall statistics
Melbourne City Sydney FC
Goals scored 3 1
Total shots 26 3
Shots on target 8 1
Ball possession 69.5% 30.5%
Corner kicks 10 1
Fouls conceded 15 14
Offsides 1 1
Yellow cards 2 2
Red cards 0 1

Notes

References

  1. ^ "Competition Rules". a-league.com.au. A-League. 1 August 2017. Retrieved 28 May 2021.
  2. ^ "A-League 2021 Finals Series Dates Revealed". a-league.com.au. A-League. 4 June 2021.
  3. ^ "A-League 2021 Grand Final to be held at AAMI Park on Sunday 27 June". a-league.com.au. A-League. Retrieved 23 June 2021.
  4. ^ "A-League 2021 Semi Final between Melbourne City FC and Macarthur FC switched to Netstrata Jubilee Stadium". a-league.com.au. A-League. 17 June 2021.
  5. ^ "A-League 2021 Grand Final to be held at AAMI Park on Sunday 27 June". A-League. 2021-06-23. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
  6. ^ "All tickets sold for A-League 2021 Grand Final". A-League. 2021-06-27. Retrieved 2021-06-27.
  7. ^ "All tickets sold for A-League 2021 Grand Final". A-League. 2021-06-27. Retrieved 2021-07-02.
  8. ^ "Sydney COVID-19 restrictions force State of Origin, A-League grand final, AFL changes". www.abc.net.au. 2021-06-23. Retrieved 2021-07-02.
  9. ^ "Kayo Freebies: how to watch all the Finals Series action LIVE and FREE on Kayo Sports!". a-league.com.au. Retrieved 9 June 2021.
  10. ^ Perry, Kevin. "A-LEAGUE FINDS NEW HOME ON CHANNEL 10 AND PARAMOUNT+". tvblackbox.com.au. Retrieved 26 May 2021.
  11. ^ Jackson, Andrew (27 June 2021). "A 'moment of madness', penalty drama and quickfire goals — this A-League GF had it ALL". Fox Sports. Archived from the original on 2021-07-09.
  12. ^ Rayson, Zac (27 June 2021). "Melbourne City claim maiden crown as Sky Blue dynasty denied in epic final". Fox Sports. Archived from the original on 2021-07-09.
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