Adelaide United coach John Kosmina believes Argentine playmaker Marcelo Carrusca has the potential to be the Hyundai A-League's find of the season.
Adelaide United coach John Kosmina believes Argentine playmaker Marcelo Carrusca has the potential to be the Hyundai A-League's find of the season after putting in a man-of-the-match display in the 4-2 derby victory over Melbourne Victory on Friday night.
In a fiery contest, Adelaide took the lead when forward Evan Kostopoulos scored his first domestic goal of the campaign on two minutes.
The Victory equalised moments later but Fabio Ferreira put the hosts back in front, set up by Carrusca's cheeky, back-heel assist.
Carrusca began to stamp his authority on proceedings, unlike his opposite number and former Adelaide United star Marcos Flores, who was making his first appearance at Hindmarsh in Victory colours since departing the Reds last year for a brief stint in China.
The silky midfielder extended Adelaide's advantage to 3-1 with a top-shelf curling strike that finished a spectacular passage of play that he started seconds earlier before turning provider once more with a set-piece that found the head of Ferreira for his second and United's fourth.
Carrusca's performance was recognised with the John Kosmina-Kevin Muscat Medal for best afield.
"I think he will be eventually," Kosmina said in response to whether Carrusca could be considered the competition's signing of the season.
"He's still got a long way to go in terms of conditioning and getting used to the pace of it (A-League).
"He said to me the other week that he's done more running here in three months than he's done in three years in Argentina ... but he's got the magic touch.
"He might be one of those players who will give away the ball cheap sometimes, but then you look at the quality you get at the other end of the spectrum and it far outstrips mere mortals."
Kosmina also praised the creative attacker's stunning goal.
"It was a fantastic goal. He started it and he finished it. What a finish it was as well," Kosmina said.
"He can see those types of things that a lot of other players don-t see.
"It's the timing, the quality, the way ball went in ... (Melbourne Victory goalkeeper) Nathan Coe had no chance."
In what was the 29th derby between the two sides, Adelaide attracted their highest crowd for the season with 14,115.
The crowd figure blitzed Hindmarsh Stadium's average attendance of 9,918.
Although support is expected to dwindle for next Sunday's clash against Wellington, Kosmina said he would not understand if the Reds' faithful turned away from Hindmarsh in the coming weeks after witnessing first hand a memorable win over Melbourne.
The former Sydney FC coach hoped Carrusca's display among five goals in a gripping 32 minutes of the first half would be enough to keep supporters pouring through the gates.
"Why wouldn't they turn up next week? Just because it's Wellington, so what? What they saw tonight was quality," Kosmina said,
"They see Marcelo Carrusca score a goal like that, they see Fabio Ferreira rip down the line and cut across the goal-line and set the first one up.
"They see him finish with the outside of the foot and score our second.
"Why wouldn-t they come back? They come here to see football..
"Tonight was a bit more special because it was Melbourne and there is that angst, but they need to come back next week. We need them to come back."