With Melbourne Victory’s Round 7 match against Wellington Phoenix postponed following the New Zealand earthquake, take a look at some key facts and figures from the first six weeks of the Hyundai A-League 2016/17 season.
German import Max Beister became the seventh player to score a goal on Victory debut in the Hyundai A-League on Saturday night.
Beister, the 119th player to represent Victory in the Hyundai A-League, netted in the 85th minute of the 3-0 win over Western Sydney Wanderers at Etihad Stadium.
Victory’s other debut goalscorers include Mitch Austin (2016/17), Besart Berisha (2014/15), Matthieu Delpierre (2014/15), Claudinho (2006/07), Richard Kitzbichler (2005/06) and Archie Thompson (2005/06).
Victory’s win over the Wanderers took its season’s goal tally to 14 – the equal most it has scored in the opening six rounds of the competition.
The other two seasons it matched that feat were the Championship-winning 2006/07 and 2014/15 campaigns.
However, the nine goals Victory has conceded is its equal second-highest amount in the first six rounds of a season.
While it has only notched three wins from six games in 2016/17, Victory has scored in every outing – matched only by its start to the 2006/07 season.
Berisha’s hat-trick in Round 3 against Wellington took him to 50 goals for Victory in all competitions (Hyundai A-League, Westfield FFA Cup and AFC Champions League).
Since joining the club ahead of the 2014/15 season, Berisha has scored 36 goals in the Hyundai A-League, 10 in the Westfield FFA Cup and four in the AFC Champions League.
The 31-year-old has netted 85 times in the Hyundai A-League with Victory and Brisbane Roar, moving him to within five goals of Thompson’s all-time record of 90.
Victory is also close to becoming the first team in Hyundai A-League history to score 500 goals.
The club has netted 493 goals so far in regular season and Finals Series games combined, 34 ahead of the next best club (Brisbane).
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