Auckland FC 1-1 Melbourne City (6-5 pen)
Steve Corica (Auckland FC):
"Like all penalty shootouts, they can go either way. We've been pretty lucky of late with those. There were some fantastic penalties - even the one that was missed, I think Michael (Woud) made a great save. The week is all about recovering and making sure the players are ready to back up again on Saturday.
"Melbourne City are a tough team that are always tough to play against. Good quality players, plenty of experienced players. To come out on top, we are very pleased. Going through was the aim of today whether we had to go all the way- which was a little disappointing, to concede so late on. We just didn't defend it that well and to concede it was disappointing.
"With one header, we clear it and the game is over and we save ourselves another 30 minutes of hard work. But it wasn't meant to be that way. I said to the boys after 90 minutes that we train hard on conditioning days for this reason, to be able to come out on top after 120 minutes.
"We always believed that we were going to win. We're full of confidence. The team knows what they have to do each week. This was a do or die game. Next week we don't have to win it in the first week, although obviously we'd like to.
"(Marcus) Younis is their biggest threat at the moment and I thought (Callan Elliot) dealt with him really well. He just got tired towards the end and started to cramp up and we had to get Luka Vicelich on at the end for a bit of safety. I thought Jake Girdwood-Reich was outstanding as well, defensively tonight."
Aurelio Vidmar (Melbourne City):
"It's always hard to take when you take the game that long. It's always a lottery when it goes to penalties, but I must say that I'm extremely proud of the way we played this game today. We had a lot of belief going into today, even after last week's loss, and our intent and intensity and our leadership was first class. It was a tough game of football from both sides but I thought we had a slight edge on them. I reckon we could have got a lot more out of that game after 90 minutes.
"I think we did enough to win the game and maybe that was the story of our season in terms of not scoring enough goals. That's something we'll have to look at. In terms of our intent and intensity throughout the 120 minutes, I thought it was first class.
"I thought we started the game very brightly with the first 15-20 minutes setting the tone, and we kept pushing. It was disappointing to concede from a set piece just a minute before half-time, but there was still a lot of belief in the dressing room at half-time. I was confident we could get a goal for sure if not two.
"It was a very challenging season, absolutely. But extremely proud of what we have achieved. The first time the club has got to the Round of 16 in the Champions League Elite, so that was a great adventure for us. Trying to then fulfil the A-League obligations after all those ACL games and going away, and there was a lot of character shown when we were on the ropes about whether we were going to make the top six. Our last seven-eight weeks has been excellent, so a lot of things still to mull over.
"Obviously when you fall out at this time of the finals, you're going to start considering a lot of different things and what's going to shape up for next season. We'll just have to reflect now in the next couple of weeks and see what we're going to do."
Melbourne Victory 0-1 Sydney FC
Arthur Diles (Melbourne Victory):
"I don't think the best team won. But that's football - that doesn't always happen. The best team doesn't always win. I thought we were the better team tonight, without discrediting (Sydney). I thought we dominated tonight. Their goalkeeper (Devenish-Meares) was the man of the match and he kept them in the game. We fell short in the 18-yard box in the end, making one mistake. I've always said finals football is about the team that makes the least amount of mistakes and wins both boxes. That's where we fell short tonight.
"There's only one person who makes (refereeing) decisions and I think he (Lachlan Keevers) got them both wrong. It's just disappointing. In games like that, there shouldn't be controversy from the guy in the middle. I don't think we've ever won a game that he has reffed (Editor's note: Victory have won three such games, one of which with Diles in charge).
"Every game he has been involved in, there has been VAR controversy. Not his fault, but I think he can be better than he was tonight. In the end, that's our night. That's our season. It's disappointing. It hurts. We fought to the end. We gave it everything, and we fell short. We had the chances to do it and we didn't.
"He has turned his game into WWE. It's not football. He lets rugby challenges go, he lets AFL challenges go, and then there's the slightest bit of contact and he calls a foul. There's no consistency there. You're talking about a big game. You think you'd like to put your best referees in the biggest games. In the end they've picked him because they think he's capable. My opinion differs, but I don't want to talk about the ref anymore. The game is bigger than a referee. It's about the players out there giving their best. He gave his best, but I think he fell short as well.
"In the end, we've got to be proud of our season, because not everybody makes finals football. I thought we were out early, but I can't speak badly about my players at all. From day one to today, they've given everything. There have been moments where we have played some incredible football and scored some fantastic goals. We've been involved in a lot of 'matches of the season'."
Patrick Kisnorbo (Sydney FC):
"I think the first half we were pretty disappointing, in terms of the way I wanted them to play. When you look at the whole 90 minutes, the players had to find a different way to play because of how they were putting us under pressure. Our character, our work ethic and our togetherness really showed tonight.
"As you know with goals, there's usually a mistake or a brilliant bit of football along the way. We had our chance to capitalise and we did. Patty (Wood) has been fantastic all week, along with everybody else. We really dug in when it was difficult, showed a lot of resilience which I'm very happy for.
"I saw some great friends today who I spoke with before and after the game. I'm grateful for the opportunity they (Victory) gave me and I'm grateful for now and for the players that I coach tonight. I remember when I got the Sydney job, Roddy Miranda texted me to say 'congratulations and I wish you all the best and wouldn't it be nice to play each other in a final'. Who would believe that would actually happen? What a fantastic captain, what a fantastic leader and fantastic person.
"Being resilient, being positive and working hard are three things I wanted to add in quickly. They don't require any talent. It's just about trying to change your mindset. Hopefully after tonight they have that belief.
"(We need to get better at) Everything. There are always areas to improve, which is the beauty of coaching in football. We have another chance to do that and it'll start tomorrow."