Adelaide United have thumped Melbourne City 6-0 in the A-League Mens at Coopers Stadium on Sunday night with the Reds' young stars again running riot.
Nestory Irankunda got the home side off to the perfect start with a stunning free kick while Bernado came off the bench to score twice, with fellow substitutes Musa Toure and Ryan Tunnicliffe also finding the back of the net.
With four goals coming from the bench, United coach Carl Veart praised the impact of his substitutes.
“When we made a few changes, that freshened us up a little bit and made it very difficult for them,” he said.
“Young Bernardo and Musa when they came on caused lots of problems for them.”
In just his second start, Irankunda broke the deadlock with a world-class set piece, picking out the top corner with a stunning curling free kick from 25 metres.
The 17-year-old employed the perfect balance of power and placement, leaving Jamie Young rooted to the spot as the City ‘keeper could only watch the thunderbolt fly past him.
Irankunda was involved again on 29 minutes when United made it 2-0. After darting through the penalty area, he doubled back and laid off to Zach Clough who dinked a cross to the back post from the edge of the box.
It was over the head of Hiroshi Ibusuki but turned into the net by City defender Callum Talbot.
The goal was checked by VAR, after the referee’s assistant judged Ibusuki to have been offside, but was eventually given the all clear by referee Shaun Evans.
On 51 minutes City were awarded a penalty when Hamza Sakhi’s shot was deflected into the air and hit the arm of Panache Madanha on the way down.
Jamie Maclaren stepped up and blasted the ball straight down the middle but it was brilliantly saved by Joe Gauci, who despite diving to his right, stuck out a strong leg to keep it out.
Tunnicliffe added the Reds’ third in the 75th minute. The English midfielder started the move, finding Clough inside the area who laid off for Ryan Kitto, but the Adelaide skipper couldn’t find the return pass.
The loose ball rolled into the path of Tunnicliffe whose first-time effort beat Young at the near post.
Toure scored his first goal for the club on 82 minutes to make it 4-0 after Bernado back-heeled the ball to him and Toure shot on the turn from outside the area.
Bernado iced the win on 88 minutes when Ben Halloran drove forward through the heart of the City defence and dished off to his team-mate.
The Reds winger dragged the ball onto his left and shot low and hard, finding the net after it was helped on its way by Nuno Reis.
The pair combined again in injury time to add a sixth with Halloran again the provider.
City coach Rado Vidosic acknowledged his players were below their best following their Asian Champions League match in Thailand on Wednesday.
“It was probably more mental fatigue than physical fatigue, especially in the second half the way that we defended,” he said.
“We made very simple mistakes, not marking opponents, turning the ball over in very dangerous positions.”
