Melbourne Victory defender Kevin Muscat has heralded the return of Grant Brebner as the catalyst to get their AFC Champions League campaign on track.
Melbourne Victory defender Kevin Muscat has heralded the return of Grant Brebner as the catalyst to get their AFC Champions League campaign on track.
The Scottish midfielder showed no ill-effects of a calf strain that has sidelined him from action since January 30 and looks a certain-starter when Victory hosts Jeju United at Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.
It is a timely return by the former Manchester United man after Victory was dismantled 5-1 in their ACL campaign opener by Gamba Osaka.
“Hopefully with Grant available, we’ll be able to add a bit more defensive-minded personnel to the team,” Muscat said.
“It just goes to show how much we’ve missed Brebs and how good he’s been for us this season providing that steel in front of the back three or four.”
Muscat says Victory will head the lessons handed out by Gamba, who were 3-0 up after 11 minutes in Japan.
“Could we be more disappointed (in the performance) – no,” Muscat said.
“Have we moved on, we’ve got no choice. The reality is we didn’t do ourselves justice in the way we organised ourselves, the way we defended.”
“We’ve got to be honest and say they were far better than us technically all over the park, but when you are in that situation you can be a lot more disciplined and organised.”
“We didn’t give ourselves half a chance to get into any sort of gameplan because after 11 minutes the game was all over. We’ve got some serious learning to do and do it very quickly.”
Brebner won’t be the only inclusion with fellow midfielder Billy Celeski also making a run for a starting berth, while recent North Queensland Fury recruit Isaka Cernak is pushing hard to make his full debut.
Like Victory, Jeju United opened their ACL campaign with a loss against Chinese outfit Tianjin Teda, putting extra importance on Tuesday night’s match-up.
Muscat is well-aware of the challenge that awaits.
“From what I could see they were the better team and conceded a goal against the run of play,” Muscat said.
“They’ve got a very talented foreigner that plays in behind the striker, it highlights with even more importance why we’ve got to be solid in that area of the park.”
“We have to be at the top of our game, we can’t start as slow as we did the other night in Japan, if we do, the reality is it will be the same outcome.”
