Juan Mata is hitting his straps and the timing couldn't be better for Melbourne Victory.
The veteran Spanish star heads into Saturday's Melbourne derby at AAMI Park off the back of arguably his most impressive A-League Men performance in last week's 2-0 win over Adelaide United.
Victory coach Arthur Diles isn't surprised by Mata's resurgence after a tough season at Western Sydney.
"The A-League is difficult for foreigners in general. Last year, you could look at it (as) a year for him to see what the level was like and understand the game," Diles said.
"Irrespective of the club he was at, the football they played, whether he fits or he doesn't fit - that's not a discussion for me.
"The second season for him, he's aware of weather, pitches, mentality, transition, all the beautiful things about the A-League. He's a year better for that.
"From my discussions with him, from day one, was always that he had a hunger to keep playing. We know that's the style of player that we need in our football club to play the way we want to play.
"He's just scraping the surface too. He's just getting slowly better each week. And yeah, I think he'll continue to get a lot better than that."
Diles praised Mata's "contagious" positivity in the change room, while attacker Nishan Velupillay wants to build an on-field connection with Mata.
"Last week just showed the class that he still possesses," Velupillay said.
"And the more we can get the ball to him, the more he can create chances."
Deiles welcomed the "beautiful headache" of regaining Denis Genreau from suspension after Mata, Lous D'Arrigo and Jordi Valadon shone in midfield against Adelaide.
Velupillay feels like the tide is turning for Victory and wants to stand up.
"I always like playing in the big games. I feel I do pretty well, as well, in those big games," he said.
"So I'm excited for this one, and I think it'll be a good occasion. And a good test for us."
Victory haven't won a derby since October 2024 and have just two wins this season but City boss Aurelio Vidmar isn't taking anything for granted.
"Obviously we're up against a very good team, especially a very good attacking team," he said.
"The inclusion of Nishan, for example, is an added bonus for them, because he's very good player, very creative player, and gives them a lot of strength and different possibilities going forward.
"And Mata's hitting some nice form as well. So is (Nikos) Vergos now, who wasn't scoring and scored a double last week.
"So for them, they're getting things slowly back to some normal performances," added Vidmar.
"So we know we're up for a difficult game, it always is."
