Muscat will almost certainly have a strong idea already on who he will use, but players will be desperate to impress in the weeks remaining before the ACL squad has to be announced.

Success in the A-League is generally predicated on how well a club can select and then use its foreign players.

Victory has been exemplary in this respect in recent seasons.

All five of its visa signings – Kiwi Kosta Barbarouses, Albanian Besart Berisha, Frenchman Mathieu Delpierre, Tunisian Fahid Ben Khalfallah and Brazilian Gui Finkler – played a key role in delivering the club the championship and the premiership plate last season.

The quintet all started in the 3-0 grand final win over Sydney,with Berisha and Barbarouses scoring the first two goals.

The problem for Muscat and Victory (and Graham Arnold and Sydney and Guillermo Amor and Adelaide, if the Spaniard is still there in February when the Reds go into the play off round) is that under ACL rules only three non-nationals – four if one is an Asian player – can be part of the squad for the Champions League.

As none of the Victory five is Asian, that means two will have to miss out, leaving Victory to go into continental competition without its strongest line-up.

In the club's last season in the ACL (2014) Muscat took the bold decision to leave out Finkler. On that occasion the coach decided that Barbarouses along with Chilean centre back Pablo Contreras and Ivory Coast full back Adama Traore were more important to the balance of the team.

Finkler was upset but took it on the chin. However it's unlikely the silky skilled dead ball specialist would feel the same way if the axe fell on him again this time.

And he showed, with a brilliant brace of goals in the 2-1 win over Central Coast Mariners the other week, why he is so important.

Finkler is a smart, thoughtful player who has vision and the technical ability to think outside the square.

He also is Victory's best dead ball exponent. Time and again he has weighed in at critical times with crucial goals from set pieces, and it is this which is a big point in his favour when a decision about his inclusion comes to be made.

Games at the highest level between closely matched sides tend to be tense, competitive and taut affairs where the quality on show often means they cancel each other out in general play. It is there that a player who can bend the ball up, over and around the defensive wall with a free kick can make all the difference.

Muscat may feel that Oliver Bozanic can do that job equally well, but in his short career at Victory the Socceroo midfielder has yet to show he has the same capacity as the Brazilian.

It seems a given that Besart Berisha, the tigerish Albanian frontman, will be part of the ACL squad. His hunger for goals, feverish workrate and huge competitiveness makes him a must.

And the calm assuredness of Mathieu Delpierre at the back makes the veteran Frenchman a key member of Victory's side for any game, anywhere.

Muscat's team has barely lost a match when the tall centre half has been in the team; not only is an excellent defender himself but he organises and encourages the young defenders around him.

The only downside for Delpierre is his age: he will turn 35 during the ACL group phase and the long distance travel (Victory will probably have to go to Japan, China and South Korea for matches) could have a big impact on his body and his ability to back up in A-League matches. It would, however, be a risk to leave him out in a competition where keeping things tight at the back, especially in away fixtures, is critical.

Fahid Ben Khalfallah this week made it clear that he was desperate to play in the ACL. During his career in France he played in the Europa League but not the Champions League, and he is very keen to experience its equivalent in Asia.

"I want to play in the Champions League. Kev knows that. It's just the rules, but I want to play every game. I don't know if he spoke with the other players. I don't know who is not going to play. It's a big competition, it's very important for the club. I want to play in it, I want to win it."

Barbarouses has already experienced the ACL with Victory and the tricky Kiwi forward has become an integral part of the club's fast, skilful attacking force.

It's a headache for Muscat, one in which he not only has to balance the requirements of the team but the egos and relationship he and the club has with its star players, two of whom will be disappointed. But the Victory coach is used to making the big calls, and he won't shirk this one.