Georgievski relishing Sydney return for the Big Blue

If the Big Blue was played under State of Origin rules, Daniel Georgievski would be wearing sky blue instead of navy blue at Allianz Stadium on Saturday night.

Melbourne Victory fullback Daniel Georgievski Source: Getty Images

But the Melbourne Victory fullback doesn't mind coming home to be booed. It's all part of the fun as far as he's concerned.

"There is always that Sydney-Melbourne rivalry between people, whether it's to do with sport or just about which city is better," Georgievski told The World Game.

"Sydney people say Sydney's better and Melbourne people say Melbourne's better. Sydney has this, Melbourne has that, and I think with all that in mind it makes a game like this even better. It's something that everyone who's involved wants to prove the best at.

"It's an awesome game, the atmosphere's always amazing. There's that little bit extra when we play against Sydney FC. It's cool."

Georgievski has learnt to roll with the punches in football. He left the family home at Blacktown as a teenager to make his way overseas and played for clubs in Croatia and Romania, as well as breaking into the FYR Macedonia national team, before returning to Australia to play in the A-League.

He only signed for a year with Victory, but after sharing in last season's premiership and championship double he re-signed for two more years and now feels very settled.

"A lot of weight was lifted off my shoulders with my re-signing," he said. "My contract was finished and for a while there I wasn't sure where I would end up. I was thinking: 'Have I got to pack my bags again and head somewhere else?'

"But now I'm in one place for an extended period. I've got stability and that's very good for my career, so I couldn't be happier."

Georgievski played well last season, but he is now in his best form since coming into the A-League. He has become an influential player in a star-studded side.

"I feel good about my football," he said. "I broke my leg a few years ago in Romania and I'm now in the same form as I was prior to that, which was my top form.

"Then last year, when I came to Melbourne, I did my right ankle early in the season. I started playing again in January, but I probably came back too soon and I was in pain. I forced it when I really shouldn't have.

"That was a big setback and then trying to get back into the squad and playing regularly again with no pain was a bit of a process. But getting towards the end of the season I just backed myself to do well and I'm very happy with the way it turned out."

Georgievski might be playing for the away team in front of a hostile crowd in the Big Blue, but he will still have a band of supporters wedged into the crowd.

"I'm pretty sure the whole pack will be there," he said. "At least 20 family members, plus a lot of friends. My parents, my brother and his family, my uncle and all of his family, I'm pretty sure they'll all be there."

Sydney leads the competition after five rounds, on 11 points. They are the only unbeaten team. Victory are in fourth place, on seven, but have a game in hand. They did not play in the A-League last weekend because of the FFA Cup final, in which they beat Perth Glory 2-0.

Asked how far off their best he thought Victory were, Georgievski replied: "We're always improving. You can never be at a top level that you can say you're satisfied with and that's the same for every club.

"Sydney plays different to a lot of other teams in the A-League. If anything, they're pretty similar to us, so we just have to do it better. If we do that, and get a win, then we can say we deserved that much and that we played well, but then we would have to improve on that.

"We're never at a high point that we can't improve on. Everyone's human, everyone knows they can do a little bit better."

Georgevski said that if there was one thing Victory were sure of going into this game, it was that Sydney would be desperate for another crack at them after losing 3-0 in the grand final the last time the two teams met.

"Obviously they don't want that to happen again, that's the main thing," he said. "They've got that little bit of extra pressure to perform against us because we're the champions and we beat them in the grand final. They will want to try to prove they should have won that match.

"They're playing for a little bit more, but so are we, because we have to repeat our performance from the grand final and make sure it wasn't a one-off. So in both camps there is a bit of extra pressure."