The teenage attacking midfielder caught the eye in pre-season and has a big fan in his coach at Melbourne Victory

In a tough week for Melbourne Victory, coach Kevin Muscat still found it easy to get excited about young gun Sebastian Pasquali.

On the back of Victory's 4-1 derby thumping at the hands of Melbourne City, Muscat fielded plenty of questions on Friday about his team's form and was typically prickly when he felt the Big V were being discounted.

But when the topic of Pasquali, 16, came up, Muscat was all smiles.

Watch below as Muscat discusses Pasquali's potential

Pasquali was one of the few Victory players to impress Muscat against City, with the attacking midfielder coming on for the last 15 minutes at Etihad Stadium for his A-League debut.

Having already shone in pre-season against Juventus - his maiden senior appearance for Victory - the Wangaratta-born teenager has quickly caught the eye of media and fans alike.

"He's got a thirst and an appetite for football that excites me - that I haven't seen in a youngster for a real long time," Muscat said.

Pasquali travelled with Victory's squad to Adelaide on Friday and could be involved against the reigning A-League champions on Saturday night with James Troisi (collarbone) still unavailable.

Victory have just one point from their opening two matches of the 2016-17 season, but Muscat denied he would simply be chasing a win against Adelaide United.

The performance - as always - remains Muscat's focus.

"I've been around long enough to know that the most important thing to win things is performances and consistent ones because they reap the most results," Victory's boss said.

Watch below as Muscat gets annoyed with a journalist's question