A-League

Veteran sports commentator Gerard Whateley has slammed the A-League ahead of the resumption of the Melbourne derby on Wednesday night at AAMI Park.

The pitch invasion cast a dark shadow over Victory's season, with $550,000 in fines and crowd restrictions among the Football Australia (FA) sanctions imposed on the club. The pitch invasion (pictured) cast a dark shadow over Victory's season, with $550,000 in fines and crowd restrictions among the Football Australia (FA) sanctions imposed on the club He also stated his belief that Melbourne Victory 'have been incredibly lucky to play in front of home crowds in the ensuing months' and that the derby 'will have a long and shameful legacy for football in this city.' Whateley added Melbourne Victory 'have been incredibly lucky to play in front of home crowds in the ensuing months' [A-League](/sport/a-league/index.html) ahead of the resumption of the [Melbourne](/news/melbourne/index.html) derby on Wednesday night at AAMI Park. Sports commentator Gerard Whateley has slammed the A-League ahead of the resumption of the Melbourne derby on Wednesday night at AAMI Park (pictured, City goalkeeper Tom Glover after being struck by a bucket in shocking scenes)

Melbourne City held off a fast-finishing Melbourne Victory to record a 2-1 Melbourne Derby win at AAMI Park on Wednesday night.

City threaten from the resulting dead ball, with the corner deflected on target. Glover does well to get down and palm the shot out for a corner. City are enjoying the better of the first-half chances tonight, but only marginally. Victory almost find an equaliser through Connor Chapman, who is picked out in the six-yard box by Ben Folami with a headed cross. It's yet another fantastic contribution from the City star, who wins the ball in midfield after a soft pass out from the back by Miranda. Two goals were scored on the night, with City's Aiden O'Neill adding to his December strike before this fixture's suspension to make it 2-0. The VAR elects not to usher referee King over to the pitchside monitor, and play resumes. We show over long periods of time who is the best team on the pitch.” “We know who is the best team on the pitch. O’Neill would go on to double the home side’s advantage in the second half with a rasping finish. City won one of three games following that result (two draws) with the Reds closing the gap to just two points before the Melbourne Derby resumed. City led 1-0 in the first meeting thanks to an Aiden O’Neill strike, and the game resumed on Wednesday night with City retaining their one-goal advantage, as referee Alex King got the action back underway with a drop ball in City’s defence.

Socceroo Aiden O'Neill was the hero as Melbourne City completed what they started in December last year by beating Melbourne Victory on Wednesday night.

Such were the bizarre circumstances of a match that took more than three months to be completed, that of the 11 Victory players that were on the field for the game’s recommencement, seven were different to the team that started the contest last year. It was a match that took more than 15 weeks to complete but A-League leaders Melbourne City were finally able to finish what they started by beating Melbourne Victory 2-1. Derby delight for Melbourne City in a match that took more than 15 weeks to complete

The three-year extension with the Premier League comes as Qatar-based broadcaster Bein Sports remains blocked in Saudi Arabia.

However, the Daily Mail states that BeIN is refusing to negotiate with PIF. [has blocked the TOD.tv streaming service](https://www.sportspromedia.com/news/qatar-2022-world-cup-saudi-arabia-block-bein-sports-streaming-platform-ott-tod-tv/) owned by BeIN Sports since the start of the 2022 Fifa World Cup in November and there has been no indication since it has reversed that decision. The three-year deal has reportedly been agreed in principal and will kick in from the 2025/26 season. Additionally, Saudi Arabia had been accused of not doing enough to combat illegal broadcasts, most notably from BeoutQ, that infringed BeIN Sports’ rights. That would be a blow for PIF’s ambitions to grow the Magpies brand in the kingdom. Saudi Arabia initially banned BeIN transmissions from 2017 to 2021.

Following Saturday's emphatic defeat of Liverpool, John Stones' performance attracted plenty of attention.

[Stones](https://www.mancity.com/players/john-stones) remains one of the best examples. [Jack Grealish](https://www.mancity.com/players/jack-grealish) is second in this metric with 52 of 72 forward passes under high pressure successful. With his new role seeing him move into midfield more often, navigating the most crowded area of the pitch appears to have come naturally to him. [Guardiola](https://www.mancity.com/players/pep-guardiola)’s plans, this data shows that [Stones](https://www.mancity.com/players/john-stones) is setting the standard for the rest of the Premier League to follow. He has been dribbled past just twice in 1360 minutes of Premier League action in 2022/23. [Manuel Akanji](https://www.mancity.com/players/manuel-akanji), [Rico Lewis](https://www.mancity.com/players/rico-lewis), [Ruben Dias](https://www.mancity.com/players/ruben-dias) and [Aymeric](https://www.mancity.com/players/aymeric-laporte) [Laporte](https://www.mancity.com/players/aymeric-laporte) who make up the rest of the top five. To play there is not really easy. “He is surrounded like a bubble. [Manuel Akanji](https://www.mancity.com/players/manuel-akanji) and [Ruben Dias](https://www.mancity.com/players/ruben-dias). [Guardiola](https://www.mancity.com/players/pep-guardiola) was full of praise for [Stones](https://www.mancity.com/players/john-stones). [Stones](https://www.mancity.com/players/john-stones) has completed 1075 of his 1148 passes. [Stones](https://www.mancity.com/players/john-stones) has been on the ball at centre back, right-back and when venturing forward to play alongside [Rodrigo](https://www.mancity.com/players/rodrigo).

Melbourne City beat Melbourne Victory 2-1 on Wednesday, nearly four months after a violent pitch invasion led to the abandonment of the A-League derby after ...

Hosting rights for Grand Finals were previously given to the top-finishing teams. Register for free to Reuters and know the full story The club was also handed a suspended 10-point deduction to be triggered by any incidents of "serious supporter misconduct" for the current season and the three following.

Three months after the Melbourne derby was abandoned on one of Australian football's darkest days, the game's conclusion was one of its most absurd.

In reality, it will go down in the annals as a bizarre ending to one of the most shameful moments in Australian football's history. "We knew that it was going to happen but after the game [last Sunday] we started really thinking hard, what are we doing? This news, however, was only communicated to City after they had completed their final tactical session under the impression that they would be without their captain, meaning he was relegated to the bench. What the sanctions didn't decree, however, was that the game be awarded as a 3-0 forfeit to City. Thus, two 'substitutions' were made by City ahead of the restart; Florin Berenguer and Andrew Nabbot replaced the injured Richard van der Venne and Mat Leckie and Victory, in a statistic that may never be matched, made seven, including two players -- Damien Da Silva and Fernando Romero -- that weren't even on the club's books when the game began. [heaviest penalties in the A-League era](/football/melbourne-victory-ausmelbourne_victory_fc/story/4848998/football-australia-sanctions-melbourne-victory-for-christmas-derby-violence)". Or that the game be restarted at 0-0, despite well under a half being played when it was called off. Straight from the off, the bizarre spectacle about to unfold was obvious. It won't disclose that this was bizarre a contest that was resumed, not forfeited, after a three-and-a-half-month hiatus, and not restarted with the scores tied at 0-0 and 90 minutes remaining but, instead, with City leading 1-0 in the 21st minute. [called off in disgrace after Victory fans stormed the field](/football/australian-a-league-men/story/4833373/australian-a-league-melbourne-derby-abandoned-after-violent-pitch-invasion) 20 minutes in, caused an estimated $AUD 150,000 worth of damage, and injured five people. The momentum from the Socceroos' magical run to the round of 16 in Qatar, with Garang Kuol almost taking eventual champions Argentina to extra time, felt well and truly extinguished less than a fortnight later. It won't show that Bruce Kamau, who provided the assist for Nishan Velupilay's 89th-minute goal to reduce the deficit to one, was on the books at OFI Crete when the game kicked off on Dec.

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