The weight of the world was on Bianca Galic’s shoulders. After 120 minutes of football, nothing could separate her Central Coast Mariners and Melbourne Victory and the first shootout to decide an A-League Women grand final was needed. Eight successive penalties had rippled the back of the net to that point, with only Alana Jančevski’s initial attempt failing to do so. It meant that the game, a title – a fairytale – all came down to this.
The 26-year-old bent down to adjust the ball. At the end of the third game that had been played on AAMI Park across the weekend, and after rain had blanketed Melbourne the day prior, the penalty area at both ends of the pitch was churned up. Player of the match Isabel Gomez had slipped as she struck her shot on goal, the relief pouring over her as Victory keeper Courtney Newbon proved just unable to get enough of a touch on the ball to keep it out.
