Melbourne City secure first ever Melbourne derby A-League Men's grand final after seeing off Western United

Melbourne City have sealed a first ever A-League Men derby grand final against arch-rivals Melbourne Victory after drawing with Western United.

Earlier on Saturday, Victory claimed a stunning 2-0 away win over Auckland FC to beat the premiers 2-1 on aggregate.

The triumph, however, may have come at a significant cost, with Socceroo attacker Nishan Velupillay forced off at half-time with a potentially serious injury to his lower right leg.

Auckland coach Steve Corica, meanwhile, was left fuming about a "disgraceful decision" to rule out a goal that would have levelled the tie.

Velupillay emerged to watch the second half on crutches, with serious questions now hovering over his availability for crunch World Cup qualifiers against Japan and Saudi Arabia next month.

Socceroos 'magician' Velupillay flipping team's fortunes Photo shows Nishan Velupillay celebrates a Socceroos goal against Indonesia. Nishan Velupillay is firing the Socceroos towards the 2026 FIFA World Cup with his qualification goals, but his biggest impact on football in Australia will be felt in generations to come.

"It doesn't look good at the moment, he's in a bit of pain," Victory boss Arthur Diles said of Velupillay.

"So we'll wait till we get back to Melbourne and get him scanned and evaluated."

The vast majority of the 29,148 fans on hand were hoping to see the hosts become the first side in league history to secure a premiership and championship double in their first season.

They created a party-like atmosphere, only to be left stunned when two goals from Zinedine Machach and Bruno Fornaroli overturned the first-leg deficit in the space of five second-half minutes.

Taking a wicked deflection off Nando Pijnaker, Machach struck first in the 55th minute before a superb pass from Jordi Valadon found Fornaroli at the top of the box, allowing the Socceroos striker to masterfully turn and shoot ten minutes later.

Zinedine Machach opened the scoring. (Getty Images: Phil Walter)

"It was beautiful to play in front of 30,000 fans tonight," said Diles.

"It was even nicer to spoil the party."

In dramatic scenes, Logan Rogerson thought he levelled on aggregate when he headed in at the far post in the 69th minute, only for it to be ruled that Guillermo May's cross had gone out before swinging back onto his head, leaving Corica irate.

"We all saw the replay, the ball's in play," said the Auckland coach.

"The referee has made his bad decision, the linesman has, and so has the VAR.

"That would have helped us get back into the game."

The hosts hurled everything they had at the Victory as time wound down but their desperate attempts proved in vain, with Josh Rawlins clearing a Pijnaker effort off the line 98th minute to seal back-to-back grand final appearances.

"It's a great moment for us as a football club, something we've worked really hard for," said Diles.

"And you get a reward tonight off the back of that."

City make sure of all-Melbourne final

Melbourne City will play Melbourne Victory in the grand final. (Getty Images: Graham Denholm)

Later, City made sure of an all-Melbourne grand final with an uneventful 1-1 draw with Western United.

Western entered the game down 3-0 from the semifinal first leg and when City captain Aziz Behich scored in the 20th minute in front of 7,691 fans in Melbourne, it sealed progression and teed up a blockbuster decider.

Noah Botic scored in the 66th minute to give United faint hope, but City comfortably saw out the game.

Incredibly, what should be a sellout grand final will be the only major men's sporting event in town next Saturday night, with no AFL games in Melbourne.

While City will chase their second championship in five years, and Victory will hunt for their first since 2017-18, United are at the crossroads after a week overshadowed by their player payments scandal.

The players' union on Tuesday issued United with breach notices over unpaid wages and superannuation for both men's and women's clubs.

It's understood outstanding salaries have been paid but some superannuation has not.

Coach John Aloisi is off-contract and will surely consider his options, while star striker Botic appears destined to try his luck overseas.

City scored after Tilio burst forward and worked the ball to Yonatan Cohen, who forced a terrific dive from Matt Sutton.

Unfortunately for the United goalkeeper, Behich had made a good run to the back post and was on hand to tap home.

Western were inches away from scoring in the 42nd minute.

ABC Sport Daily podcast ABC Sport Daily is your daily sports conversation. We dive into the biggest story of the day and get you up to speed with everything else that's making headlines.

Riku Danzaki smacked a fierce strike off the post, then Beach brilliantly parried Botic's follow-up before claiming Michael Ruhs' subsequent header.

City peppered United's goal without reward.

Then, Botic won the ball off Steven Ugarkovic and it spilled to Hiroshi Ibusuki.

He found Matt Grimaldi, who squared it for Botic to tap home.

But it proved too little too late.

United screamed for a penalty in the 86th minute, believing Mathew Leckie had fouled James Donachie, but their pleas fell on deaf ears.

AAP

Click here to read article