Superstar Juan Mata is in line to return against Western Sydney as Melbourne Victory gear up for the long road through A-League Men finals.
Mata, who has a league leading 13 assists plus five goals, missed 2-2 draws against second-placed Auckland, then leaders Newcastle on Friday night with a fractured elbow.
But coach Arthur Diles anticipated the Spanish maestro's return at CommBank Stadium next Saturday.
"At this point I think he's a good chance and I hope the next two or three days keep progressing the way we hope and the way he has been and if he does then he's an excellent chance to travel," Diles said.
"If he's not, then like I've always said all year, we'll never put a player's health at risk just for one match irrespective of the significance of the match.
"We saw him in the last game. He was affected badly by that and he couldn't be the player that he is. You don't really win when you play someone who's not 100 per cent ready to play irrespective of who they are and what they can do.
"We'll put his health and wellbeing first and hopefully he ticks every box he needs to and he joins us in Sydney next week and if not, we'll have him ready for the week after."
Victory have effectively qualified for finals but can no longer make the top two.
Diles was frustrated that his team could take it up to Auckland and Newcastle, but didn't make it count with wins.
"We know we're a quality side. We know we can match it with the best. But we want to be the best and at the moment we're just a little bit off that," he said.
It means an elimination final awaits.
"We'll do whatever we've got to do," Diles said.
"Whoever's in our path, we won't take a backward step like we showed tonight. It doesn't matter who it is that we're playing against.
We're going to go at you and we know we're a good side and if we have to do it the hard way, we'll do it the hard way."
!["Once the [Rainbow Flag] Cat Is out of the Bag, the Ball Game Is Over"](https://images.inkl.com/s3/publisher/cover/212/reason-cover.png?w=600)
