Striker Patryk Klimala has upstaged the big-name imports of the A-League Men off-season by leading Sydney FC to a 2-1 win over the Western Sydney Wanderers.
All eyes were on Sydney winger Douglas Costa and Wanderers recruit Juan Mata in Saturday’s season opener but Klimala stole the show with an assist and the decisive goal.
Foreign strikers usually take a while to acclimatise to the ALM but already Klimala looks the goods and the Polish forward was a thorn in the Wanderers’ side throughout the 90 minutes.
The former Celtic frontman set up Joe Lolley for Sydney’s opener and then turned in the winner in the 63rd minute.
Costa was solid – his cross was the catalyst for Klimala’s opener – and the Brazilian gave the CommBank Stadium crowd a glimpse of his fleet-footed skill.
Mata was not brought into the game until the second half and the Spaniard was unable to really stamp his authority in a stint that lasted a little over half an hour – the most he has played in close to 18 months.
The only downside for Sydney was a late straight red card for Max Burgess for a lazy tackle on Ben Holliday.
But other than a nervy final 10 minutes, Ufuk Talay’s men were dominant and controlled proceedings.
Under the eye of Socceroos coach Tony Popovic, Sydney leftback Jordan Courtney-Perkins was impressive and he set the wheels in motion for Lolley’s 16th minute opener.
Courtney-Perkins played the ball into Klimala, who drew the attention of Wanderers centrebacks Jeong Tae-uk and Alex Bonetig.
Klimala craftily slipped the ball away to Lolley who had no problems firing past Western Sydney goalkeeper Tristan Vidackovic.
The Wanderers lacked penetration and it wasn’t until the introduction of former Wellington man Bozhidar Kraev in the second half that they began to show some spark.
Kraev triggered the move which led to the Wanderers’ equaliser as stand-in captain Brandon Borrello squared the ball to Aydan Hammond.
The homegrown youngster tucked past Andrew Redmayne from the edge of the box just as Mata was getting ready to come on.
But any excitement over Hammond’s lifeline and Mata’s introduction evaporated quickly.
The Spaniard’s first act as a Wanderers players was watching the ball sail into the back of the net as Costa’s cross was flicked on by Hayden Matthews towards Klimala.
The Polish striker turned the ball home and nearly added a second goal to his tally when he rattled the woodwork not long afterwards.
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