Persian Gulf Pro League:
Reds and Blues win as title race goes down to the wire
The tightest title race in the Persian Gulf Pro League in years will be decided on the final day of the season after both Persepolis and Esteghlal came out victorious in the penultimate round of fixtures on Tuesday.
Leading its city rival by a single point, Persepolis walked away with a massive 3-1 triumph over Shams Azar in its last outing on the road, with Esteghlal edging out Golgohar 1-0 at home in the simultaneous match to keep up with the Reds heading into Saturday’s decisive games.
A home win against Mes Rafsanjan at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium will secure a remarkable seventh top-flight crown in eight seasons for Persepolis, while the Capital Blues, who were on top for the best part of the campaign before last Friday’s frustrating stalemate at Nassaji, will long for one last twist in the two-horse race when playing away to relegation-threatened Paykan.
Esteghlal hoped Saeid Daqiqi’s Shams Azar – the surprise package of the season which had taken four points from Esteghlal and Sepahan at home – would come up with yet another brave performance on Tuesday but in-form winter signing Oston Urunov bagged his sixth goal in 12 games with 19 minutes into the contest to ease the pressure on the visiting Reds.
Iranian international center-back Rouzbeh Cheshmi broke the deadlock for Esteghlal with a low drive from the edge of the box right before the interval, and when Mohammad Papi headed home the equalizer for Shams Azar six minutes after the break, the Blues crowd at the Azadi venue went into raptures.
However, Esteghlal supporters could only celebrate for 10 minutes as former Blues midfielder Masoud Rigi found his first goal in the Reds shirt to restore the one-goal lead for Osmar Vieira’s men on the hour mark.
A late blunder by Shams Azar keeper Alireza Ja’farpour was like a bucket of cold water for the Blues faithful after he made a mess of what looked to be a routine save against Mahdi Torabi’s cross before the ball went in through his legs.
While Esteghlal coach Javad Nekounam will be eager to see his former international teammate Moharram Navidkia and his Mes side pull off a major upset on the final day, Paykan manager Reza Enayati can still provide a stern test for the Blues – with whom he lifted the league trophy as a prolific striker.
San’at goes down
Enayati had Ali Qorbani to thank for his 98th-minute equalizer which saw Paykan salvage a 2-2 draw at Foolad Khuzestan and remain above its southern Iranian host in the survival battle.
The excitement will be equally high at the bottom end of the table with Paykan, Foolad, and Esteghlal Khuzestan looking to avoid joining San’at Naft Abadan in the second division next season.
A 2-1 away defeat against Zob Ahan meant San’at will begin next campaign in the second tier for the first time in nine years.
Esteghlal Khuzestan, which surrendered a three-goal halftime lead against Persepolis to leave Azadi empty-handed last Friday, will head into Saturday’s fixtures in the bottom two but will be hoping to build on Tuesday’s massive 3-2 victory at Mes Rafsanjan.
Reza Dehqani put Mes in front 14 minutes into the game before Javad Aqaeipour’s double and Ousmane Ndong’s close-range finish in the space of 17 minutes gave the southern Blues a commanding lead at the break, with Farshid Baqeri’s late consolation too little too late for the home side.
In Tehran, Mohammadreza Azadi netted twice with Hossein Zamehran, Mohammad Abbaszadeh, and Mehrdad Abdi also on the scoresheet, to help Saket Elhami’s Nassaji go four points clear of the bottom two with an emphatic 5-0 away win against Havadar.
Nassaji will still play a part in the survival battle when hosting in the season finale.
Elsewhere, Kaveh Rezaei scored in the first half as Sepahan defeated Iralco 1-0 in Arak to all but secure a third-place finish, with fourth-place Tractor coming from behind to beat Malavan 3-1 in its final home game.