Birighitti hit with one-game ban

The 21-year-old was shown a red card midway through the second half of the clash on Sunday against his old club, Adelaide United, for using his hands outside the box.

Birighitti blocked a shot by Reds playmaker Dario Vidosic, who scored a goal in Adelaide's 2-0 win at Hunter Stadium.

The A-League's match review panel confirmed on Monday that Birighitti won't be available for the highly-anticipated clash against the Sky Blues.

Sydney FC is hoping Italian striker Alessandro Del Piero's first home game for the club and Emile Heskey's second appearance for the Jets will attract a record crowd at Allianz Stadium.

The Sky Blues' biggest crowd for a home game is 33,458 when they faced Melbourne Victory in 2008.

A record 93,800 fans filled the five stadiums during the opening week of the new A-League season to beat the single-round record of 87,000 achieved in round three last season.