Melbourne Victory progressed through to the next round of the A-League finals series after the heroic efforts of goalkeeper Paul Izzo during the game’s penalty shootout denied cross-town rivals Melbourne City a chance at the trophy.
The cross-city rivals underwent a dramatic finish to their elimination clash, with the scores level at 1-1 after extra time.
Izzo’s final save against James Jeggo sealed the win for his side – with the keeper also scoring a penalty himself – as the team jumped onto the star keeper in front of an elated crowd of more than 21,000 people.
READ MORE: ‘Get my lawyer onto it’: Gould challenging $20k fine
READ MORE: Piastri crashes off podium amid F1 Miami boilover
READ MORE: ‘Doesn’t exist anymore’: Icon confused by AFL change
The 29-year-old was “lost for words” following the dramatic final moments of the game.
“I’m still lost for words – I’m rattled,” Izzo said on Ten’s Broadcast.
“We just kept going, kept believing and whatever happened, happened.
“I’m sorry I don’t know what to say.”
“We had a session during the week [focused on penalty shootouts] and I shanked one… but then the boss looked at me and I was like ‘all right’.
“Fake it til you make it I guess… If you look confident then you’re going to be confident.”
Izzo was seen hurling away City keeper Jamie Young’s notes on Victory’s possible penalty contenders prior to the shootout, with Izzo joking to reporters that “a bottle” may have been sent into the crowd.
“A bottle may have got launched into the crowd,” he laughed.
“I even checked his towel and he had paper in there as well, so lucky I found that too. I mean, it’s just part of the game. It is what it is. I’m sure he would have done the same.”
City took the lead in the 29th minute of the match with a booming header from Samuel Souprayen going into the top-left corner.
Victory was placed under immense pressure after French international Zinedine Machach received marching orders for kicking City’s Brazilian winger Leo Natel.
However, after coming off the bench late in the second half as a substitute, Nishan Velupillay leveled the scores in the 87th minute.
“The game should have been done,” said City interim coach Aurelio Vidmar in the post-match press conference.
“Everyone always [asks] why can’t you just absolutely smash teams when they go down to 10 men, but the reality is you lose discipline, if you lose structure, then you’re going to lose a battle.
“And we did for periods of that second half.”
Tony Popovic’s side will take on Wellington Phoenix FC on Sunday evening, with Sydney FC hosting the Central Coast Mariners in the second semi-final game on Friday night.