Departing Melbourne Victory forward Kosta Barbarouses says emotion will be put to one side in Tuesday night’s crucial AFC Champions League match against Gamba Osaka.
If Victory fails to progress to the Round of 16, it will be the last time Barbarouses, Archie Thompson and Matthieu Delpierre represent the club.
“Obviously it’s crossed my mind a few times – I’d be lying if I said it hadn’t. But I think if I start reading too much into that, it takes the focus away,” Barbarouses said.
“I don’t really look at it as a sentimental sort of thing. We’ve got our jobs to do.
“I never need any extra motivation to put the Victory shirt on.
“My only focus is to help the club make some history.
“I think me putting everything aside for now and just doing my job is the best thing I can do for the club.
“There’s still plenty of time to say the farewells after everything’s over.Â
“Everyone’s still committed until we can’t go any further.”
Victory head coach Kevin Muscat believes focussing on a positive team performance and not being overwhelmed by emotion will give the club the best chance to make it through the group stage for the first time.
“From my perspective, you’ve got to remove all emotion from everything you do,” he said.
“You start thinking about yourself, and it’s possible you could be overwhelmed with emotion.
“We won’t be doing that. We won’t be thinking about individuals or ourselves, because ultimately the goal is to be playing at the end of the month.
“To do that, you’ve got to narrow your vision and make sure you perform.”
Tickets for Victory’s clash with Gamba at Melbourne Rectangular Stadium on Tuesday night are available by clicking here.
