Melbourne Victory coach Kevin Muscat says his side can make history in the Asian Champions League this season.
Victory recorded an impressive 2-1 win over Shanghai SIPG last Wednesday night and will go along way to qualifying for the knockout stage for the first time in the club's history if they can beat Gamba Osaka in Japan tomorrow night.
Muscat says he is confident his side has what it takes to trouble the J-League giants.
“As soon as they lose the ball in their attacking half they apply some pressure immediately and then, if they don't win it in the first pass or two, they retreat,” Muscat said.
“It was a lot of slow build-up, a lot of possession-based stuff and then they want to play through you.
“I expect that we're going to press them and get after them and put them under a bit of pressure, but we've got to be mindful that they're technically very good so they can play under pressure.
“It's going to have to be a balancing act from our perspective.
“Their fullbacks don't venture too far forward from what we've seen, so if we're compact enough, win the ball and get in to wide areas, we'll have some good pace that could trouble them.”
The side is expected to be unchanged from the team that beat Shanghai last week, with all players available.
“I'm comfortable and confident that everyone will be fine and I'll have everyone available to pick from, although we'll have to wait and see,” Muscat said.
“We can make history here."
