Melbourne Victory vs FC Seoul Predictions
Melbourne Victory welcome FC Seoul to AAMI Park for an AFC Champions League Two encounter on Wednesday.
In an evenly matched contest, chances at both ends are expected in Australia.
BTTS is my preferred pick at AAMI Park.
Both Teams Backed to Score
- Melbourne Victory have seen BTTS in 5 of their last 7 home matches
- Melbourne Victory scored 1+ goals in 9 of their last 10 matches
- FC Seoul have seen BTTS in 3 of their last 4 matches
- FC Seoul scored 1+ goals in 8 of their last 10 matches
Honours Even in Previous Meetings
Melbourne Victory and FC Seoul will meet for the third time on Wednesday. Their only previous encounters came in the 2019 AFC Champions League Elite.
Seoul won 1-0 in South Korea before Melbourne secured a place in the knockout phase with a 2-1 win in Doha.
Melbourne Victory Suffer Cup Final Heartbreak
Melbourne Victory return to continental action after a painful Australia Cup final defeat against South Melbourne last weekend.
After a goalless 90 minutes, substitute Denis Genreau put Victory ahead in extra time, but Max Mikkola's late equaliser forced a penalty shootout. Misses from Harry Sawyer and Jason Davidson handed South Melbourne a 4-3 win on penalties.
Giovanni Savarese's side finished the contest with more shots (19-13), but final xG totals (1.23 and 1.19) reflected the evenly balanced nature of Saturday’s final.
Before last weekend’s defeat, Melbourne had not played since kicking off their AFC Two campaign with a 1-1 draw at Viettel last month.
Victory have played just three matches in the past eight weeks.
The Boys in Blue are competing in continental competition for the first time since 2020, when they reached the AFC Champions League round of 16.
FC Seoul Return to Winning Form
FC Seoul make the trip to Australia in high spirits after a 2-1 win against Jeju SK on Saturday.
Moon Seon-min opened the scoring just after the break before Lee Kun-hee brought Jeju level.
Former Celtic forward Patryk Klimala restored Seoul's lead six minutes later to secure a much-needed victory for Gi Dong Kim’s side.
A competitive contest was reflected in the final match stats. Seoul had 49% possession and an 11-8 advantage in shots, but recorded an xG of just 0.74 compared to Jeju's 0.78.
Before last weekend’s success, Seoul had endured a mixed run of form with three defeats in four previous fixtures over the past month.
Kim Gi-dong's side have now won three and lost three of their last six matches.
Despite some mixed recent results, Seoul remain firmly in control of the K League title race. Thirty-one games into the season, the Dark Red Warriors retain an 18-point lead at the top of the division.
The Koreans made a disappointing start to their AFC Champions League Two campaign, losing 1-0 at home to Persib Bandung last month.
Melbourne Victory vs FC Seoul Team News
Melbourne Victory: (4-2-3-1) Jack Duncan; Joshua Inserra, Tom Lockyer, Jason Davidson, Franco Lino; Xavier Stella, Jordi Valadon; Keegan Jelacic, Denis Genreau, Clerismario Santos; Charles Nduka.
Melbourne boss Savarese could make changes after his side played 120 minutes in Saturday's cup final defeat.
Denis Genreau is in contention for a recall after a goalscoring substitute appearance against South Melbourne.
Louis D'Arrigo is unavailable with a hamstring injury, but Philipp Ziereis is back in contention after completing a concussion protocol.
Speaking to the media this week, Savarese believes his side must focus on their own performance to get a result against Seoul.
“We have to step on the field and just perform, think about ourselves, make sure that we are our best in this match, and that’s the only way I think we can get a result.”
FC Seoul: (4-4-2) Gu Sung-yun; Choi Jun, Yazan Al-Arab, Juan Antonio Ros, Kim Jin-su; Jeong Seung-won, Hrvoje Babec, Son Jeong-beom, Anderson Oliveira; Moon Seon-min, Patryk Klimala.
Seoul boss Kim could be forced into at least one change to his first XI this week. Lee Seung-mo was withdrawn in the first half against Jeju and is unlikely to feature.
Son Jeong-beom could start alongside Hrvoje Babec after replacing Lee on Saturday.
Polish forward Klimala should continue in attack after scoring his 14th goal of the season against Jeju.