Melbourne City's hopes of a ground-breaking treble have gone up in smoke with a 3-1 semi-final loss to Tokyo Verdy Beleza in the Women's Asian Champions League.
But coach Michael Matricciani takes pride in a stellar season that Melbourne can celebrate, despite a loss that could mark a final appearance in City colours for some of his stars, including striker Holly McNamara.
City sealed a domestic premiership-championship double with Saturday's 2-1 A-League Women grand final win over Wellington.
But Tokyo scored two goals in the opening 10 minutes in Suwon on Wednesday to bring City back down to earth and leave Matricciani's charges with an uphill battle to qualify for the final.
City fought their way back into the contest and the excellent Aideen Keane scored in the 37th minute, before Yuzuho Shiokoshi's second goal in the 78th minute snuffed out the comeback in teeming rain at the Suwon Sports Complex.
