In Milos Ninkovic’s second weekly column for FoxSports.com.au, he reflects on his five best moments in a Sydney FC shirt and why he believes the idea of a Grand Final format is unfair on the players.

It’s the second week of isolation with no football and no A-League and so far I’m still enjoying being at home with the kids. They are enjoying their breaks from school a lot more than I am mine from football however.

I signed my new contract with Sydney FC in December meaning that by the time it expires, I would have spent seven years in Australia and have some great moments in the Sky Blue to remember.

I was asked which of those moments stood out most for me over that time and while there are plenty to choose from, there are five that stand out.

Missed Ninko’s first column for Fox Sports? Read it here!

GRAND FINAL 2016/17

The one that immediately stands out to me is the Grand Final where I scored the winning penalty in 2016/17. We broke all these records across the season and it was an unbelievable year for all the players, fans and everyone involved with Sydney FC.

On a personal level I rank it as the best season I’ve ever had in football. I picked up a couple of individual awards as well and it felt like the perfect season, especially after the season we had the year before, my first at the club.

We went from finishing seventh to winning the Premiers and the Grand Final. It was some season.

Ninkovic’s Sydney teammates celebrate his winning penalty.

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MY FIRST DERBY

The second one is the first Sydney derby I was involved in. I scored the winner in the 88th minute (not that I’ve memorised the time!) but the whole experience was something I’d never seen before.

I’ve said many times that I thought that nothing would compare to the derby with Partisan Belgrade when I was at Red Star but this one was something else. Everyone was talking about how big it was and I kept saying: “Look, I played for Red Star against Partisan and nothing will come close to that”. But I was shocked. I couldn’t believe the atmosphere, 48,000 at the Allianz Stadium. It was amazing.

The derby when we won 4-0 in front of 65,000 at the ANZ Stadium was a special moment too but this first derby sticks out most for me.

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FFA CUP FINAL

Beating Adelaide in the FFA Cup final at the Allianz Stadium meant a lot to me because the year before we had lost at the same stage to Melbourne City so this felt like a bit of retribution for what happened 12 months before.

Sydney FC had never won it before and I scored a goal so it was really special to write myself into the club’s history that day. Unfortunately I got injured in the first half but it didn’t take away how much of an amazing day it was for everyone.

SEMI-FINAL AGAINST VICTORY

This was an amazing game – maybe the craziest game I’ve ever been involved in. We came into the match after some really tough Champions League games in Korea and Japan.

Victory, on the other hand, had left a lot of their starting XI in Melbourne and they didn’t travel and they didn’t play in their Champions League tie like we did. It left me worried about our heavy legs compared to their fresh ones.

Everything changed after 10 minutes though when we scored and we had another two before halftime. I remember coming into the changing rooms afterwards and all of us were shocked at what was happening – we had no idea how we were 3-0 already. But we didn’t celebrate, we wanted to score more.

We scored three more and it ended 6-1. It was a really special moment and the reaction from the players just added to that.

2019 GRAND FINAL

Unsurprisingly, this is number five on my list, even if the game wasn’t as exciting as the 6-1 against Melbourne Victory. It was my first experience of playing the Grand Final away from home and I don’t know how many people were there but it was so different.

I’ve said many times you can’t expect good football to be played in a final because no one wants to make a mistake and no one wants to lose.

I was so happy for Steve Corica because of the pressure on him in his first year as coach. Redders had an unbelievable game and everything just came together on the day.

*******

I nearly picked the 2017-18 season as one of my moments because of how dominant we were in the regular season, winning the Premiers by 14 points but we were knocked out in the semi-finals and to be honest the whole season then felt like a bit of a waste.

Growing up in Serbia and playing where I played in Europe, Australia is my first experience of a Grand Final and even though a lot of my best memories around about Grand Finals here, I don’t really like them.

For fans, it’s very exciting but for players it’s very hard. Can you imagine was it was like for Sydney FC when we won the Premiers only to lose against Victory in the semi-finals? Or the same for Perth to lose in the Grand Final last year?

You work so hard for so long and dominate the league but end the season with the feeling you have won nothing. It was the first time in my life I finished first and then felt so bad. It was like all of my hard work was for nothing.

It is what it is and I respect that is the culture here in Australia and I understand that for fans it’s very interesting. But for me and the other players, it feels a bit unfair.