Sydney FC defender Matt Jurman said he relished his 90 minute battle with 65 million dollar striker Jackson Martinez in Wednesday’s AFC Champions League over Guangzhou Evergrande and believes the Sky Blues were well worth the three points in their Group H clash.
“I knew it was going to be a good test for me [facing Martinez] and I was looking forward to the test,” Jurman said
“Playing against these players, he’s not old he’s in his prime and I think we did well to keep him quiet.
“It was a big win for us, beating the Champions of Asia, it was a great performance and I thought all the boys played well.
“There’s no secret that we know what these players are getting paid and the crazy money they’re getting. We just went into the game like any other game, but Arnie said before the game that we could shock a lot of people here, no one was expecting us to win, and I think we played great and deserved the win.
“I think we deserved the three points last night and we’re definitely looking forward to the next game.”
Jurman is also hopeful that the Sky Blues can carry their form into Saturday’s Hyundai A-League encounter against Melbourne City at AAMI Park.
The Sky Blues take on City missing five players through suspension and injury, but Jurman said he’s got confidence in the depth of the squad at the disposal of Head Coach Graham Arnold.
“I don’t think we’ve been playing that badly, we just haven’t been getting the three points [recently],” Jurman said.
“Hopefully this win gives us the confidence and gives the boys confidence to go into the game on Saturday and get another three points.
“We do have a few players out but I don’t think that’s going to cause any trouble for us, you could see last night Rob Stambolziev and Aaron Calver come into the starting line-up and I think they did really well.
“If they can play that great against the Champions of Asia I think they can do great on Saturday as well and whoever comes in we know they can do a great job.”
Sydney FC take on Melbourne City in the Hyundai A-League on Saturday 5 March (kick off 7:30pm). Catch the match live on Fox Sports 4, listen live on ABC Grandstand or follow @SydneyFC on Twitter for updates.
