Aloisi and Corica injuries a shame – Melbourne’s Muscat

The injuries to Sydney FC duo John Aloisi and Steve Corica are a shame according to Melbourne Victory captain Kevin Muscat.

The veteran pair are both out of tomorrow night’s Grand Final because of season-ending hamstring injuries and Muscat says although it may make his sides task slightly easier, he is sorry that his friends are not in action in the season’s biggest game.

“Without a doubt (it’s a shame). I don’t know how seriously you are going to take it, but I personally would like them both to be playing tomorrow night,” Muscat said.

“First and foremost because they are very good friends and secondly because I think on a big occasion, you want the best players playing and so it’s unfortunate on a few fronts they are not playing but we’ve always maintained that we will worry about what we do and we will turn up tomorrow night and try and achieve that.”

Despite some of the best players not being there, Muscat believes that the atmosphere at Etihad Stadium will be the best it’s ever been.

“The atmosphere in the stadium will be the best it’s ever been and there’s no doubt we thrive on playing in front of big crowds and there have been many Australians abroad and many in the national team playing in front of less a crowd than what we will be playing tomorrow night,” he added. “It’s a step in the right direction and a pat on the back to the FFA that we have got to this stage where there are 50-odd thousand and playing in an unbelievable atmosphere, which I have no doubt, it will be tomorrow night.”