Melbourne Victory skipper Carl Valeri has heaped praise on star striker Ola Toivonen after netting his second goal of the campaign in a 2-0 win over Adelaide United on Saturday night.
The Swedish marksman missed the opening weeks of the A-League season through injury, but has been in red-hot form since integrating into the Victory first-team - scoring or assisting in every match he has played in.
While Japanese superstar Keisuke Honda has taken all the plaudits for his scintillating form, Valeri believes Toivonen is fast becoming a vital cog in the Victory’s attacking armoury.
“He’s flying under the radar because of Keisuke (Honda). I love Keisuke as a player and as a person in the change room, but Ola’s (Toivonen) up there too,” Valeri told SEN Breakfast.
“His touches and the way he brings players into the game is special and unique for such a big striker – he has some very delicate touches.
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“I’m really happy that Ola is scoring, but what I really like about Ola is that he’s creating chances by taking the attention and giving great balls – you’ve seen in the last couple of games he has set up opportunities and we’ve scored from them as well.
Our super Swede strikes again! #MVFC #OurVictory @FOXFOOTBALL pic.twitter.com/XFLksiVy93
— Melbourne Victory (@gomvfc) December 8, 2018
“The ability to do that and to score is extremely important and let’s hope he keeps going.”
Toivonen joined the reigning A-League champions after a superb World Cup campaign – scoring against four-time champions Germany in the group stages.
Listen to tyhe best bits of this morning's edition of SEN Breakfast with Sam Edmund and Nick Dal Santo in the player below