# 2020–21 Melbourne City FC season

The 2020–21 season was the eleventh in the history of Melbourne City Football Club. The club competed in the A-League for the eleventh time. The club was scheduled to play in the 2021 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs in June 2021, but withdrew from the competition on 4 June 2021.

## Review
### Background

On 26 June 2019, Melbourne City appointed Frenchman Erick Mombaerts as new head coach leading the club in being runners-up in the 2019–20 A-League regular season, 2020 A-League Grand Final and 2019 FFA Cup.

### Pre-season

The 2020 FFA Cup was cancelled on 3 July 2020.
Nathaniel Atkinson had departed the club for Perth Glory on 1 September 2020. Two days later, the club appointed former assistant coach Patrick Kisnorbo to the head manager position prior to the start of the season on 3 September, after previous coach Erick Mombaerts left the club to return to his native country France. Lachlan Wales was released following the end of his contract, while Aiden O'Neill joined for City's first signing of the season on 8 September.
City signed three youthful players, Taras Gomulka, Marco Tilio and Matt Sutton along with the departure of Gianluca Iannucci on 21 September. Nathaniel Atkinson would then only after 23 days after departing City, had returned within Joshua Brillante leaving two days later. The next day had Andrew Nabbout join City after his short stint with Perth Glory.
Joe Gauci left the club without a single appearance for City and joined Adelaide United on 7 October. The following day, Ramy Najjarine was loaned to Newcastle Jets and Moudi Najjar loaned to Macarthur FC. A week later, Ben Garuccio made a return signing on 16 October.
On 16 November, City played their first friendly of the season, against rivals Melbourne Victory in a game with three 45-minute halves at Marvel Stadium which resulted in a 3–3 draw with a goal by Curtis Good and two from Jamie Maclaren. City returned to the City Football Academy for their second friendly of the season against Western United on 28 November, with a 2–1 win via goals by Andrew Nabbout and Jamie Maclaren.

## Players

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | AUS | Tom Glover |
| 2 | DF | AUS | Scott Galloway |
| 3 | DF | AUS | Scott Jamieson (captain) |
| 4 | DF | POR | Nuno Reis |
| 7 | MF | AUS | Rostyn Griffiths |
| 8 | MF | AUS | Aiden O'Neill |
| 9 | FW | AUS | Jamie Maclaren |
| 10 | MF | FRA | Florin Berenguer |
| 11 | FW | ENG | Craig Noone |
| 13 | DF | AUS | Nathaniel Atkinson |
| 14 | MF | JPN | Naoki Tsubaki (on loan from Yokohama F. Marinos) |
| 15 | FW | AUS | Andrew Nabbout |
| 16 | MF | AUS | Taras Gomulka |
| 17 | FW | AUS | Stefan Colakovski |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 18 | MF | AUS | Connor Metcalfe |
| 19 | DF | AUS | Ben Garuccio |
| 20 | MF | URU | Adrián Luna |
| 22 | DF | AUS | Curtis Good |
| 23 | FW | AUS | Marco Tilio |
| 33 | GK | AUS | Matt Sutton |
| 35 | FW | AUS | Raphael Borges Rodrigues (scholarship) |
| 36 | DF | AUS | Kerrin Stokes (scholarship) |
| 38 | DF | AUS | Jordan Bos (scholarship) |
| 39 | MF | AUS | Anthony Lesiotis (scholarship) |
| 42 | GK | AUS | Ahmad Taleb (scholarship) |
| 49 | FW | AUS | Max Caputo (scholarship) |
| — | MF | AUS | Idrus Abdulahi (scholarship) |
| — | GK | AUS | James Nieuwenhuizen (scholarship) |

## Transfers
### Transfers in

| No. | Position | Player | Transferred from | Type/fee | Contract length | Date |
| 8 | MF | Aiden O'Neill | Burnley | Free transfer | 3 years | 9 September 2020 |
| 16 | MF | Taras Gomulka | Adelaide United | Free transfer | 3 years | 21 September 2020 |
| 23 | FW | Marco Tilio | Sydney FC | Free transfer | 3 years | 21 September 2020 |
| 33 | GK | Matt Sutton | Melbourne Victory | Free transfer | 2 years | 21 September 2020 |
| 13 | DF | Nathaniel Atkinson | Perth Glory | Free transfer | 2 years | 23 September 2020 |
| 15 | FW | Andrew Nabbout | Perth Glory | Free transfer | 1 year | 24 September 2020 |
| 19 | DF | Ben Garuccio | Unattached | Free transfer | 2 years | 16 October 2020 |
| 14 | MF | Naoki Tsubaki | Yokohama F. Marinos | Loan | 1 year | 5 December 2020 |
| 4 | DF | Nuno Reis | Levski Sofia | Free transfer | 3 years | 18 January 2021 |
| 39 | MF | Anthony Lesiotis | Unattached | Scholarship | 3 months | 21 April 2021 |
| 5 | DF | Daniel Georgievski | Western Sydney Wanderers | Injury replacement | 3 months | 29 April 2021 |

### Transfers out

| No. | Position | Player | Transferred to | Type/fee | Date |
| 17 | MF | Denis Genreau | Macarthur FC | Free transfer | 28 July 2020 |
| 13 | DF | Nathaniel Atkinson | Perth Glory | Free transfer | 1 September 2020 |
| 19 | FW | Lachlan Wales | Unattached | End of contract | 9 September 2020 |
| 37 | FW | Gianluca Iannucci | Unattached | End of contract | 21 September 2020 |
| 6 | MF | Joshua Brillante | Xanthi | Mutual contract termination | 23 September 2020 |
| 46 | GK | Joe Gauci | Adelaide United | End of contract | 7 October 2020 |
| 21 | FW | Ramy Najjarine | Newcastle Jets | Loan | 8 October 2020 |
| 30 | FW | Moudi Najjar | Macarthur FC | Loan | 8 October 2020 |
| 38 | FW | Yaya Dukuly | Adelaide United | Free transfer | 27 October 2020 |
| 40 | DF | Richard Windbichler | Unattached | Mutual contract termination | 2 December 2020 |
| 4 | DF | Harrison Delbridge | Unattached | End of contract | 5 January 2021 |
| 37 | MF | Bernardo Oliveira | Adelaide United | Mutual contract termination | 13 April 2021 |
| 5 | DF | Daniel Georgievski | Unattached | End of contract | 9 June 2021 |

### From youth squad

| N | Pos. | Name | Age | Notes |
| 38 | DF | Jordan Bos | 18 | 1.5 year scholarship contract |
| 42 | GK | Ahmad Taleb | 18 | 2 year scholarship contract |
| 49 | FW | Max Caputo | 15 | 2 year scholarship contract |
| | GK | James Nieuwenhuizen | 17 | 3 year scholarship contract |

### Contract extensions

| No. | Name | Position | Duration | Date |
| 7 | Rostyn Griffiths | Defensive midfielder | 2 years | 23 September 2020 |
| 10 | Florin Berenguer | Attacking midfielder | 1 year | 23 September 2020 |
| 1 | Tom Glover | Goalkeeper | 2 years | 11 January 2021 |
| 22 | Curtis Good | Centre-back | 3 years | 11 January 2021 |
| 36 | Kerrin Stokes | Centre-back | 2 years | 21 April 2021 |
| 15 | Andrew Nabbout | Winger | 3 years | 10 June 2021 |

## Kits

Supplier: Puma / Sponsor: Etihad Airways / Sleeve sponsor: McDonald's
| Home | Away | Third | Goalkeeper$^1$ | Goalkeeper$^2$ | Goalkeeper$^3$ |

## Pre-season and friendlies

Win  Draw  Loss

## Competitions
### Overview

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| A-League | 29 December 2020 | 10 June 2021 | Matchday 1 | Winners | 26 | 15 | 4 | 7 | 57 | 32 | +25 | 057.69 |
| A-League Finals | 20 June 2021 | 27 June 2021 | Semi-finals | Winners | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 1 | +4 | 100.00 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 28 | 17 | 4 | 7 | 62 | 33 | +29 | 060.71 |
Source: Soccerway

### A-League
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | Melbourne City (C) | 26 | 15 | 4 | 7 | 57 | 32 | +25 | 49 | Qualification for 2022 AFC Champions League group stage and finals series |
| 2 | Sydney FC | 26 | 13 | 8 | 5 | 39 | 23 | +16 | 47 | Qualification for 2022 AFC Champions League qualifying play-offs and finals series |
| 3 | Central Coast Mariners | 26 | 12 | 6 | 8 | 35 | 31 | +4 | 42 | Qualification for finals series |
| 4 | Brisbane Roar | 26 | 11 | 7 | 8 | 36 | 28 | +8 | 40 | Qualification for finals series |
| 5 | Adelaide United | 26 | 11 | 6 | 9 | 39 | 41 | −2 | 39 | Qualification for finals series |
* 1 2 3 The top two teams entered the finals series at the semi-finals, while the teams ranked third to sixth entered the finals series at the elimination-finals.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Source: Ultimate A-League

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 21 | 22 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 24 |
| Ground | A | A | B | A | B | H | A | A | B | H | A | A | H | H | H | A | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | H | H | A | B | A | H |
| Result | W | L | B | W | B | L | L | L | B | W | W | W | W | W | W | L | W | D | W | D | W | W | W | W | D | W | L | B | D | L |
| Position | 1 | 5 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Points | 3 | 3 | 3 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 12 | 15 | 18 | 21 | 24 | 24 | 27 | 28 | 31 | 32 | 35 | 38 | 41 | 44 | 45 | 48 | 48 | 48 | 49 | 49 |

#### Matches

The league fixtures were announced on 24 November 2020.
Win  Draw  Loss

### AFC Champions League
#### Qualifying play-offs

Win  Draw  Loss  Withdrawn
All three teams from Australia competing in the 2021 AFC Champions League (Sydney FC, Melbourne City and Brisbane Roar) withdrew from the competition after the draw.

## Statistics
### Appearances and goals

Includes all competitions. Players with no appearances not included in the list.
| No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | A-League | A-League | A-League | A-League | Total | Total |
| No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | Regular season | Regular season | Finals series | Finals series | | Total | Total |
| No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| 1 | GK | | Tom Glover | 25 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 27 | 0 |
| 2 | DF | | Scott Galloway | 15+4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 21 | 3 |
| 3 | DF | | Scott Jamieson | 19 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 21 | 3 |
| 4 | DF | | Nuno Reis | 13+5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 20 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | | Daniel Georgievski | 1+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 7 | MF | | Rostyn Griffiths | 18+1 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 21 | 1 |
| 8 | MF | | Aiden O'Neill | 10+2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| 9 | FW | | Jamie Maclaren | 23+1 | 25 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 25 |
| 10 | MF | | Florin Berenguer | 17+7 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 26 | 1 |
| 11 | FW | | Craig Noone | 22+1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 23 | 6 |
| 13 | DF | | Nathaniel Atkinson | 9+3 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 14 | 2 |
| 14 | MF | | Naoki Tsubaki | 8+7 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 15 | 1 |
| 15 | FW | | Andrew Nabbout | 15+1 | 3 | 0+1 | 0 | 17 | 3 |
| 16 | MF | | Taras Gomulka | 3+5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| 17 | FW | | Stefan Colakovski | 2+17 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 21 | 3 |
| 18 | MF | | Connor Metcalfe | 24 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 5 |
| 19 | DF | | Ben Garuccio | 9+11 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 21 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | | Adrián Luna | 16+6 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 24 | 3 |
| 22 | DF | | Curtis Good | 24 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 1 |
| 23 | FW | | Marco Tilio | 8+12 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 24 | 2 |
| 33 | GK | | Matt Sutton | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| 35 | FW | | Raphael Borges Rodrigues | 1+2 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 36 | DF | | Kerrin Stokes | 3+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 |
| 39 | MF | | Anthony Lesiotis | 0+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 |
| 43 | DF | | Alec Mills | 0+3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| 49 | FW | | Max Caputo | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |

### Disciplinary record

Includes all competitions. The list is sorted by squad number when total cards are equal. Players with no cards not included in the list.
| Rank | No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | A-League | A-League | A-League | A-League | A-League | A-League | Total | Total | Total |
| Rank | No. | Pos. | Nat. | Name | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Finals series | Finals series | Finals series | | | Total | Total | Total |
| 1 | 3 | DF | | Scott Jamieson | 4 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
| 2 | 20 | MF | | Adrián Luna | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 | 36 | DF | | Kerrin Stokes | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 4 | 8 | MF | | Aiden O'Neill | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 | 10 | MF | | Florin Berenguer | 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 | 18 | MF | | Connor Metcalfe | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | 7 | MF | | Rostyn Griffiths | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | 11 | MF | | Craig Noone | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 7 | 19 | DF | | Ben Garuccio | 2 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | 4 | DF | | Nuno Reis | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | 22 | DF | | Curtis Good | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | 23 | FW | | Marco Tilio | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 10 | 43 | DF | | Alec Mills | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | 2 | DF | | Scott Galloway | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | 13 | DF | | Nathaniel Atkinson | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | 15 | FW | | Andrew Nabbout | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| 14 | 17 | FW | | Stefan Colakovski | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 39 | 3 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 44 | 3 | 0 |

### Clean sheets

Includes all competitions. The list is sorted by squad number when total clean sheets are equal. Numbers in parentheses represent games where both goalkeepers participated and both kept a clean sheet; the number in parentheses is awarded to the goalkeeper who was substituted on, whilst a full clean sheet is awarded to the goalkeeper who was on the field at the start of play. Goalkeepers with no clean sheets not included in the list.
| Rank | No. | Nat. | Goalkeeper | A-League | A-League | Total |
| Rank | No. | Nat. | Goalkeeper | Regular season | Finals series | Total |
| 1 | 1 | | Tom Glover | 7 | 1 | 8 |

## Awards
### Melbourne City Player of the Month

The winner of the award was chosen via a poll on Twitter.
| Month | Player | Votes | Source |
| December / January | Curtis Good (AUS) | 43.6% | |
| March | Andrew Nabbout (AUS) | 46.3% | |