Santalab ready for biggest games of his career

The chance to become the first Australian team to win the Asian Champions League is truly an amazing prospect.

Matches like our two-leg decider against Al-Hilal don't come around too often in a footballer's career.

They will quite simply be the biggest games in my career.

I've played in grand finals before but this trumps anything I have ever been involved in.

It's been an amazing journey.

No-one could have predicted after just two years that the Wanderers would be in this position. When I joined this club I could never have expected we would be playing for the right to become Asia's best club.

Adelaide United set the platform in 2008 with a commendable runner-up finish but we are hell-bent on going one better.

It all starts on Saturday in front of a sell-out crowd at Parramatta.

The first leg will be crucial.

You can't lift the trophy after the opening match, but you can definitely put yourself in a position to do so.

Al-Hilal showed the importance of a strong home game in their semi-final with an impressive 3-0 win against Al-Hin.

They weren't able to come up with the goods in their second leg yet were still able to earn a ticket to the big show with a 2-1 loss.

They'll be a bit of an unknown quantity for us.

Like a lot of matches in this competition, we are coming up against an opponent we've mainly seen through video footage.

But as we've shown consistently throughout this campaign, we can adapt to the task in front of us.

The ACL style of football is very different to what you come to expect in A-League.

It has suited us during our charge to the final and I reckon it will work in our favour again in the decider.

We will head into the match giving Al-Hilal the utmost respect but by no means are we there to play for second.

There is a massive carrot waiting for us if we can get the win.

A chance to play in the FIFA Club World Cup is very appealing, particularly with Spanish giants Real Madrid already waiting in the wings.

We will put those thoughts on the backburner for now though as we look forward to doing football fans in this country proud.

Derby a crowd-puller

THE crowd at last week's derby speaks volumes of where football is at in this country.

For it to be the highest attendance at a club game, in any code, at the venue is an amazing indicator of how strong A-League has become.

The result didn't go our way but the support from both sides made the night memorable all the same.

Credit to Sydney FC.

To come back from 2-0 down in a derby is no easy feat.

The goal before half-time allowed them to go into the sheds with some confidence and after we had a send-off in the second half it was always going to be a battle.

We've already put the loss behind us but will be hungry to get the wood back over them when we meet again at the end of next month.