vs Victory Wed 9:30pm SS1

Kevin Muscat

Melbourne Victory and Brisbane Roar have suffered major injury setbacks in their match at AAMI Park, with Victory skipper Kevin Muscat out for a month with an ankle injury and Brisbane winger Henrique likely to miss even more with a suspected broken arm.

Melbourne may have won the game 3-0 to finally kick start their season, but they are set to be without Muscat until after the October international break, which includes the historic first all Melbourne derby on October 2.

The 37-year-old landed awkwardly in the 85th minute of the game and immediately fell to the ground clutching his right foot. He departed the field straight away leaving his side with just 10 men late in the game.

Melbourne coach Ernie Merrick said afterwards that while Victory would wait on tests, it appeared that Muscat had torn the lateral ligaments and would miss at least a month.

"The initial diagnosis is that he could have torn his ligaments in his ankle, so it could be at least a month," he said. "He's always a big miss, Kevin because of his presence on the field."

However, Merrick believes that while his experience will be missed, Melbourne have the ability to cover for Muscat positionally, saying Adrian Leijer can fill the breach at the back.

"The good thing about Adrian is that he can play full back or centre back. I don't think it is a problem for us," he said.

It was the second injury blow in as many days for Melbourne with Robbie Kruse unable to play on Sunday because of a calf injury which will also rule him out of Wednesday's home game against Wellington and Saturday's clash with Fury in Townsville.

Meanwhile, Brisbane are looking at being without in-form attacker Henrique for an even longer period after he lasted less than three minutes of Sunday's match. The slightly-built Brazilian cannoned into Muscat and landed awkwardly on his left arm.

He was very distressed and Brisbane wasted no time substituting him as he writhed in pain on the side of the pitch.

He was taken straight to hospital with the diagnosis likely to be either a broken arm or a dislocated elbow. Both scenarios would see him spend a substantial period on the sidelines.

"Ricky has had a fantastic start to the year and has been a big part of what we have been doing," coach Ange Postecoglou said. "It's not ideal to lose a player like him. It looks like it will be a long-term injury and we'll have to work out how we cover for that."

Brisbane otherwise emerged from the match unscathed, but having lost their first game of the season in such emphatic fashion must now back-up against ladder-leading Adelaide at Suncorp Stadium.