Melbourne City FC will begin its A-League season on Tuesday night against Brisbane Roar at Dolphin Stadium.
City will be looking to get it’s 2020/21 campaign off to a strong start and right in the centre of that will be attacking midfielder Adrian Luna who is about to enter his second season at the Club.
One of the driving forces in Brisbane’s midfield, Irishman Jay O’Shea, will be out to keep Luna and his fellow teammates quiet.
Like Luna, 2019/20 was O’Shea’s first in the A-League and he didn’t take long to show his quality and versatility in midfield.
Luna will be looking to improve on what was a strong first campaign which saw him find the back of the net five times and also record five assists.
Craig Noone 🍟 Adrian Luna 👌 #MCYvWUN
📹 @FOXFOOTBALL pic.twitter.com/R9nPRymreO
— Melbourne City FC (@MelbourneCity) January 3, 2020
Luna’s five goals came from 32 attempts last season compared to O’Shea’s one goal from 36 attempts.
Luna showed he isn’t a one trick pony, scoring twice with his head, twice with his right foot and once with his left foot.
Last season he played 25 games, two less than O’Shea and this was due to Luna missing a little bit of time with a knee injury and then joining the City squad in the hub late due to quarantine.
O’Shea played every minute of his 27 games showcasing his aerobic capacity.
Although he is known more for the attacking side of his game, Luna still had one more clearance than O’Shea last season – especially surprising considering he played over 500 less minutes.
Unsurprisingly though, O’Shea did have a 5.1% higher success rate in terms of tackles and also has a higher win percentage in duels and aerial duels than the much smaller Luna who stands at 169cm compared to the 183cm O’Shea.
O’Shea got on the ball the most of the two last season, averaging 61.9 passes per 90 minutes compared to Luna’s 38.6. The Uruguayan saw 79.1% of his passes hit the mark compared to O’Shea’s slightly higher 84.3%.
O’Shea did have six assists, one more than Luna, but of course played far more minutes.
