Melbourne Victory captain Kevin Muscat says he does not need extra motivation to win a football match. The hard-nosed midfielder/defender notches up his 500th league appearance when the Victory takes on Sydney FC this Saturday but says he is not using the milestone to help him get up for the top of the table clash.

"In Australia, milestones get recognised quite a bit and made a fuss of," Muscat said.

"But if you need extra motivation to win a football match, then something has to be wrong.

"If you can put in more this week because of a milestone than you did last week, well, you're doing an injustice the week before to your team-mates.

"In all honesty, it can't be an extra motivation in my eyes."

Muscat has racked up the matches in a career that begun in 1989 with Sunshine George Cross in the National Soccer League and has taken him to Heidelberg United, South Melbourne FC, Crystal Palace, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Rangers, Millwall and finally with the Melbourne Victory and is hoping that the loss to Saturday's opponentsat home nine weeks ago can be avenged.

"It's certainly not a concern, we're not running scared of them and the records will show we've played very well and results have gone well against them," he said.

"They'll come here with a bit of confidence from the last result, but I dare say we're at our best at the moment.

"We all say you shouldn't go back and want revenge, all that sort of stuff, but it's been in the back of my mind, certainly.

"It cuts deep when you're beaten at home - when you're beaten convincingly like that against your arch-rivals, it disappoints us because our fans ... they're certainly the best set of fans in any football code in this country."