He may be humble and sometimes shy when it comes to facing the media, but Jonatan Germano let his feet do the talking on Friday night.
He may be humble and sometimes shy when it comes to facing the media, but Jonatan Germano let his feet do the talking in Friday night-s 2-1 win over Sydney FC as he registered a man-of-the-match performance.
A pivotal performer for the Red and White as a midfield prop – and despite losing midfielder partner Orlando Engelaar to a first-half red card – Germano illustrated his impact both in defensive midfield and in attack.
It was testament to Germano-s performance, and the team collectively, that the side recorded a gutsy display with 10-men for over 55 minutes of the encounter – with Germano-s equaliser in the 52nd minute an additional fillip.
PIC: Jonatan Germano (above), dedicates his goal to his wife and son, who are pictured on his t-shirt.
Germano was awarded the Tony Clark medal from officials from Victoria Police after the match, as part of last night’s Blue Ribbon Cup, which was retained by Melbourne Heart.
Fronting the media on Saturday at the team-s recovery at St Kilda Beach, Germano dedicated his efforts to the team and said he was excited to be back in action after a season hampered by hamstring and calf injuries.
“It-s very nice, I think what is nice is that I come back from not playing in a long time and we win, [and] this is more important for us,” Germano said.
“I think playing against 11 men [with 10] against Sydney, [who] played and won 5-0 against [Melbourne] Victory last week, we showed we had a chance of winning.
“I think it is very difficult to play with 10 men, but John [van-t Schip] said to us ‘keep smart, confident, we play when we have the ball and we have a chance to attack-.”
While Germano was credited for his fantastic performance in his first full start of the season for Melbourne Heart, it was super sub David Williams who stole the headlines with a fantastic solo effort in the dying embers of the match.
“Amazing,” Germano said of Williams- goal. “When he scored, I say thanks to God for this.”
“It was a good feeling; great for Davey, he missed last game through injury, but now he is in the squad, played very good and scored a goal.
“We still have a chance to make the top six and this is what we want. We want to win every game.”
