Mehmet Durakovic has called for referees to protect Melbourne Victory star Harry Kewell.
The Victory and Kewell are set for their first game together against Sydney FC at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night in the 2011/12 A-League opener and Durakovic believes it is important that the games top players need to be treated well by match officials.
''I am pretty sure they will look after him as closely as they can. These guys are superstars and they need to be protected," he said.
"Hopefully they don't get bad tackles. We are all about playing football and that's what we want to show to the supporters.
''Harry will play. Physically he's looking good. He's not really match fit, but he's a professional and he will play some part of the game.''
