{"id":2820,"date":"2026-05-01T08:51:06","date_gmt":"2026-05-01T08:51:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/2820\/"},"modified":"2026-05-01T08:51:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-01T08:51:06","slug":"our-time-to-shine-believes-victorys-esposito","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/2820\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Our time to shine’ believes Victory’s Esposito"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sebastian Esposito is keen to prove that Melbourne Victory is the biggest club in Australia.<\/p>\n

Melbourne Victory find themselves placed against their bitter interstate rivals in do-or-die conditions<\/a> on Saturday, May 2, kick-off 7:40pm AEST.<\/p>\n

Earning a desirable home fixture after finishing above Sydney FC on the ladder, Victory will enjoy and certainly utilise the support of the AAMI Park faithful to gain an extra edge over the travelling Sky Blues.<\/p>\n

Prior to the Boys in Blue on Saturday, the A-League Women\u2019s team will take on Melbourne City in their Ninja A-League Finals Series Semi-Final (Leg 1) matchup at AAMI Park, kick-off 5pm AEST.<\/a><\/p>\n

Speaking during his pre-match press conference, Esposito, a boyhood fan and well aware of the Club\u2019s Finals pedigree, is now honoured to run out on the field and play his part on the grandest of stages.<\/p>\n

\u201cBiggest club in Australia. I believe, and I know that all the boys here love to play on the big occasions. I know the fans love the big occasion.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely our time to shine and our time to put a stamp on the competition, and make everyone aware that we\u2019re here for the long run.<\/p>\n

\u201cI can\u2019t wait to have all the fans there tomorrow, it\u2019s our 12th man, and we\u2019re just excited to perform and give a good show.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Sebastian Esposito in action for the Boys in Blue at AAMI Park.<\/p>\n

Returning to Australia in the off-season on loan from Italian Serie A club US Lecce, the 21-year-old central defender has been pleased at the growth he has made as a result of playing first-team football for Victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel like I\u2019ve grown a lot this season. I\u2019ve had a lot of moments this year, good and bad, that have definitely helped me grow. I came here to play games, and I\u2019ve played a lot of games and had a lot of experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a player, I\u2019ve developed as a whole, from inside, internally, to on the pitch and being able to express myself. I feel like I\u2019ve gained a lot of confidence, and I\u2019m truly looking forward to showing that.\u201d<\/p>\n

With one win, one draw and one loss recorded in their three meetings against Sydney this season, Esposito and his teammates are familiar with what the Sky Blues can bring to the table this weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe obviously know they\u2019ve got a lot of strengths. They\u2019re the best defensive side in terms of conceded goals this year, so we know that we\u2019re going to have to be good offensively and defensively.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, it\u2019s about limiting their strengths and focusing on us, how good we are going forward and how we know we can dictate games, especially at AAMI Park in front of our amazing fans.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch Esposito\u2019s full press conference below.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sebastian Esposito is keen to prove that Melbourne Victory is the biggest club in Australia. Melbourne Victory find…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2821,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[1993,1995,1998,260,332,376,3939],"class_list":{"0":"post-2820","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-melbourne","8":"tag-big-blue","9":"tag-elimination-final","10":"tag-isuzu-ute-a-league","11":"tag-melbourne","12":"tag-melbourne-victory","13":"tag-press-conference","14":"tag-sebastian-esposito"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2820"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2820\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2821"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}