The 2009 A-League Grand Final took place at Telstra Dome in Melbourne,

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

on 28 February 2009. It was the final match in the

A-League 2008–09 A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competit ...

season, and was played between premiers Melbourne Victory and runners-up Adelaide United. Melbourne Victory won the match 1–0 and became the winners of the 2008–09 Championship, thus becoming the first team to win the A-League domestic treble, after also claiming the 2008 Pre-Season Challenge Cup, and the 2008–09 Premiership. The Grand Final was the last event to be held at the ''Telstra Dome'', the former name of Melbourne's Docklands Stadium. Due to a change in sponsorship, the stadium is now known as ''Etihad Stadium''.

Route to the finals

Match

Summary

With both teams down to ten men for the last 25 minutes, Adelaide were left scoreless with Melbourne taking their second A-League championship medal. Pondeljak's goal earned him the prestigious Joe Marston Medal. A contentious early

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given to the lone Adelaide striker Cristiano by referee Matthew Breeze saw the Reds go down to ten men by the tenth minute. However, Adelaide managed to hold back Melbourne from scoring until Tom Pondeljak scored 23 metres out from goal in the 60th minute to allow Melbourne to take the lead. Five minutes later, Melbourne striker

Daniel Allsopp Daniel Lee Allsopp (born 10 August 1978) is an Australian former soccer player who played as a striker. As a player he notably played for Manchester City for several seasons and was part of their team that earned promotion back to the Premi ...

was also sent off for allegedly headbutting Adelaide's Robert Cornthwaite in an incident in the Melbourne penalty box. Both Cristiano and Allsopp's red cards were revoked by the Football Federation Australia in a post-match conference.

Details

Statistics

Controversy

The red card to Adelaide talisman Cristiano after just 10 minutes in the championship decider against Melbourne Victory created a lot of controversy post match. The Brazilian starlet had been warned before that referee Matthew Breeze would send him off if he suspected anything untoward about his heading with flailing arms. He felt as though he was a marked man all season by referee Matthew Breeze " I couldn't sleep after the game." Fox Sports analyst and Former Australia international Robbie Slater claimed the referee made the wrong call, "ruined" the Grand Final and argued that the A-League should hire an elite overseas official to handle its championship game.

References

External links

Official A-League Website
{{Adelaide United FC matches 2008–09 A-League season A-League Men Grand Finals Adelaide United FC matches Melbourne Victory FC matches Soccer in Melbourne