Abbas suffered the injury as a result of a heavy challenge from Wanderers midfielder Iacopo La Rocca early in the game, the second foul committed against the Sydney player in the opening seven minutes. La Rocca is softly spoken off the pitch but a fierce competitor once he crosses the white line and is no stranger to committing strong challenges in the derby, highlighted by a red card and four-game ban for elbowing Terry Antonis in a derby in March 2013.

The Italian says he had no intent to harm Abbas on Saturday night and denied that he resorted to dirty tactics in the contest. "I am not a dirty player and I did not intend to hurt Ali," La Rocca told SBS. "Yes, I went into the challenge aggressively but with fair intentions as I always do because that's the type of player I am and that's how I play my football. Sometimes I get fouled and sometimes I commit the foul myself but there is never any malice."

La Rocca issued an apology for Abbas' season-ending injury and says he will attempt to contact him privately after the game. "I tried to speak to him to say sorry but I did not manage to do it so I will definitely ring him or send him a message to apologise and wish him a quick recovery," he told SBS. "I know what he must be feeling because I did my ACL twice. Whenever something like this happens it is not good and I don't like."

Fairfax Media understands Sydney FC are privately seething that La Rocca's challenge wasn't punished with a card and the club is assessing available options to take the matter further with Football Federation of Australia. It is unlikely La Rocca's challenge will face any further discipline as the match review panel won't be able to review the case as the incident was addressed by the referee during the game.

Meanwhile, Sydney forward Bernie Ibini scored one of the goals of the season so far with a superb individual display against the Wanderers but says he is just relieved to have opened his account for his new club.