Auckland 0-2 Melbourne Victory (1-2 agg)
Few A-League clubs in recent years had appeared as destined for the Premiership-Championship double as Steve Corica's Auckland FC, especially as they had done all the hard work in the first leg of their semi-final against Melbourne Victory and just needed to maintain their eight-game unbeaten run on home soil to move into a debut season Grand Final.
'Clean sheet' and 'Melbourne Victory' had not been muttered in the same sentence for eight rounds, with Arthur Diles' men producing their most recent shutout way back in early March against the lowly Central Coast Mariners.
Everything therefore pointed in the direction of an Auckland romp but the Victory outclassed their Kiwi opponents for their first head-to-head victory and had what Auckland head coach Steve Corica could have diplomatically described as a stroke of luck when both a linesman and the VAR opted to disallow a 69th minute header from Logan Rogerson that would have drawn Auckland level on aggregate.
"In my opinion they got it wrong and that could have cost us, getting back into the game and getting into a final," Corica said.
"You’re talking about big decisions there, so you would hope they get it right."
It has been a remarkable six-month journey for Victory manager Diles, who had no plans at the start of the season to be an A-League head coach but was thrust into the job mid-season following Patrick Kisnorbo's unexpected departure.
Melbourne City 1-1 Western United (4-1 agg)
There was an even stronger aura of inevitability surrounding Melbourne City's path to the Grand Final after they got one, if not both feet in the door last week with a 3-0 demolition job at the same venue.
In a superb twist of fate for the competition, the 2024/25 season will come to a climax not only with an all-Melbourne derby, but on a weekend where there will be no AFL or NRL fixtures to compete with the A-League for attendance.
"This is the best outcome for the A-League in general, in Australian football," said Melbourne City striker Max Caputo.
"To have a Melbourne derby in a grand final like this, it sure brings bums on seats ... (there aren't) much bigger stakes than this."
For Western United, a trophy would have been a most welcome distraction from some seriously concerning off-field events that have led to a FIFA transfer ban and breach notices from Professional Footballers Australia over failure to pay both their men's and women's players on time.
Goal of the Week: Semi-Final Second Legs
Granted, Aloisi's men let the City boys do what they liked during this passage of play, but it was still impressive to watch.
Aziz Behich had the rebound fall perfectly to his feet but it was just reward for a very quick run down the left during the buildup. Keep an eye on where he begins at the start of the clip - it's not as though he hadn't earned the opportunity to score!