Sydney FC chief executive Adam Santo has fired a barb at Melbourne Victory by claiming his club remains the A-League's biggest brand.
The Sky Blues host Victory at Allianz Stadium on Saturday, knowing a win would strengthen their finals push and put Victory's in perilous danger.
And Santo said Steve Corica's side - who beat Victory 2-1 in January's most-recent meeting between the sides - have surpassed their rivals as Australia's premier football club.
"If we keep it factual, if you add up the cumulative number of fans who have gone to Victory and (Melbourne) City games it doesn't add up to what Sydney FC get," Santo told AAP.
"Our attendances are by far the number one in the league, football is in good health up here at the moment.
"We're the number one in terms of reach on TV as well, and we want to push through and dominate in all metrics.
"This season we are starting to see Sydney move ahead of Melbourne, the restrictions at Victory are a caveat, but we saw a trend before that where Sydney was outperforming Melbourne."
Comparing Saturday's game to Australia's version of Spain's 'clasico' between Barcelona and Real Madrid, Santo said his club's supporters took no greater delight than getting one over Victory.
"Even though we're having a better season than Victory, I don't think ladder position means much for this week's game," Santo said.
"It's going to be heated because there's a lot of history.
"For the fans that were here before the Western Sydney Wanderers came in, the game with Victory was the rivalry in Australia.
"Those longstanding fans see it as bigger than the Wanderers games, and I'm sure our fans are going to be looking forward to getting revenge on Victory after they beat us (at Allianz Stadium) in round one."
