Club Career
Born in Crawley, West Sussex, from Maltese descent, Muscat began his career as a junior at Australian National Soccer League (NSL) club Sunshine George Cross, making his first senior appearances for the club in the 1989/90 season. He moved from Sunshine to the Australian Institute of Sport in 1990 and was awarded the Weinstein Medal as the Victorian Junior Player of the year.
He continued playing in the NSL for Heidelberg United in the 1991-92 season and then spent four seasons with South Melbourne Hellas. In 1995-96 he was trialled at Sheffield United under manager Dave Bassett but stayed at South Melbourne. By August 1996 Bassett had taken the helm at Crystal Palace and signed Muscat to the south London club for £35,000. Muscat was part of the Palace team that subsequently won promotion to the English Premier League, defeating Sheffield United in the 1997 play-off final at Wembley. Muscat made nine Premier League appearances for Palace before moving to First Division Wolverhampton Wanderers for £200,000 in October 1997.
Muscat remained at Wolves for five seasons before moving to Scotland to join Rangers on a free transfer in July 2002. He was part of the Rangers squad which won a treble of domestic trophies in 2002-03. Muscat's final British club was Millwall, for whom he played from 2003 to 2005. In 2004, he captained Millwall to the FA Cup Final for the first time in their history.
He missed the final itself after suffering a knee ligament injury in the semi-final against Sunderland, although the Millwall manager Dennis Wise insisted on him being presented with a medal. He left Millwall to return to Australia to become Melbourne Victory's inaugural captain in the 2005-06 season. Under Victory manager Ernie Merrick, Muscat, a defender for virtually his entire career, moved to midfield for the 2006-07 season. He remained the captain until 2011.
In February 2011, Muscat announced his intention to retire from club football after the conclusion of the 2011 Asian Champions League. His decision to finish was fast-tracked by an infamous tackle he committed in a Melbourne derby on 22 January 2011, which resulted in a season-ending eight-week ban from the A-League. Muscat played out his competitive career in the 2011 AFC Champions League under the captaincy of centre-back Adrian Leijer, despite having previously referred to the competition as "not all that enjoyable". Muscat regained the captaincy for his farewell match in Melbourne, a 1-1 draw against J-League side Gamba Osaka.
Muscat scored on his return to Sunshine George Cross in a 3-1 loss to Altona Magic in August 2011.
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