Vucinic stars for Al Jazira in friendly win over Melbourne City FC

With the 2015 Asian Cup ongoing in Australia, Melbourne City FC made the most of the enforced A-League break by travelling to the UAE for a friendly with Arabian Gulf League table toppers Al Jazira

Having spent a relaxing few days in Abu Dhabi after touching down last week, Melbourne returned to the field at the Mohammed bin Zayed Stadium on Sunday night.

But it was the Pride of Abu Dhabi, Jazira - inspired by Montenegrin striker Mirko Vucinic - who were celebrating at the end of the 90 minutes after a 2-0 win.

It could have been worse for the Australia side had Vucinic not missed a penalty inside the first two minutes after Melbourne City’s captain Patrick Kisnorbo had brought down Manuel Lanzini.

Former English Premier League stars Damien Duff and Robert Koren both went close for Melbourne in the opening 45 minutes while Hassan Ameed squandered Jazira's best chance after being played through by the impressive Lanzini.

The deadlock would eventually be broken just shy of the hour mark as Vucinic made up for his earlier penalty miss with great control and finish. The ex-Juventus man has enjoyed a stunning start to life in the UAE capital, scoring 16 goals in just 12 games so far this season.

From there Jazira took control of the match and after Vucinic passed up another opportunity they doubled their advantage. Yaser Matar claiming the goal after the ball ricocheted off the Jazira midfielder following a collision with Melbourne 'keeper Andrew Redmayne.

Melbourne continued to search in vain for that elusive goal, but it never came as Eric Gerets' Jazira side ran out comfortable winners.

For the Australians, the big positive was midfielder Koren managed his first 90 minutes in over six months after being sidelined with a serious knee injury.

Melbourne City FC will next face Ukrainian side FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk in a behind closed doors friendly on January 18.