AFC Champions League Elite:
Persepolis, Esteghlal continue woeful run
Persepolis’s winless streak at the AFC Champions League Elite extended to four games, while Esteghlal suffered a third consecutive defeat, as the Iranian top-flight duo’s misery continued at the continent’s top-tier club competition.
Persepolis shared the spoils with Qatari club Al Gharafa in a 1-1 stalemate in Dubai’s Al Maktoum Stadium, before Esteghlal fell to a comprehensive 3-0 loss to Saudi Pro League giant Al Hilal in Riyadh later on Monday.
Fullback Farshad Faraji gave Persepolis a 53rd-minute lead on his return from injury, only to see his strike canceled out three minutes later by Ahmed Al Ganehi, who found the net with a first-time effort from the edge of the box seconds after coming off the bench.
Al Gharafa looked more likely to bag a second goal as Persepolis had Algerian keeper Alexis Guendouz to thank for denying Florinel Coman and Yacine Brahimi in one-on-one situations.
Substitutes Issa Alekasir and Lucas João, meanwhile, missed glorious chances to net a last-gasp winner for the Tehran Reds, with the former heading wide of the near post, while the latter saw his point-blank effort kept out by Spanish shot-stopper Sergio Rico.
“It was a difficult game as both teams played openly with the motivation to win,” said Persepolis head coach Juan Carlos Garrido, who has never won in 10 Champions League outings, stretching back to his time on the Al Ain bench in 2019.
“We controlled the game well in the first half. It is very difficult to restrain [Al Gharafa forward] Joselu, but we did it well, and I believe we were doing the right thing in the first half,” added the Spaniard.
“When we scored our goal, which is the most important point of the game, we should have stopped the game so that nothing happened in the next 10 minutes, but we didn’t do that.
“We lost the ball in front of our own goal and Al Gharafa scored. We should have calmed down the game. We had many opportunities in the final minutes but we could not score the second goal. I think we were better in those minutes.”
With the league phase of the competition at the halfway mark, the draw left Persepolis in the ninth place of the West Zone’s 12-team table with two points.
Eight teams will progress to the knockout phase, meaning Garrido’s men will have no room for further slip, when they play away to Al Rayyan in three weeks before tricky tests against Iraqi champion Al Shorta as well as Saudi heavyweights Al Hilal and Al Nassr.
Magnificent Mitro
For all their miserable results and performances of late, the Tehran Blues almost got off to a flying start at the Kingdom Arena, when Ramin Rezaeian’s diving header in the fourth minute bounced off the post, with the fullback injuring his shoulder in the process to be replaced by Alireza Koushki.
The final outcome, however, was nothing beyond expectations, as Aleksandar Mitrovic got a hat-trick to inspire Al Hilal to a fourth Asian win in a row.
The Serbian striker put Al Hilal ahead with a 15th-minute tap-in and doubled the advantage with another straightforward finish in the 33rd minute.
The former Fulham player completed his hat-trick with a 74th-minute header into the bottom corner from Joao Cancelo’s cross from the right.
Esteghlal head coach Pitso Mosimane, who was appointed to the job only a fortnight ago, acknowledged that Al Hilal was by far the better side, though he remains hopeful that improvements will start to come for the Blues.
“Today we saw the big differences between the two teams,” said the South African after the game, adding: “We lost the services of three key players but it is not an excuse, we have to accept the result because we faced a great team.”
“I am unlucky because a number of players are injured, it is true that it is part of the game, but it makes the job of any coach difficult.
“I only had five training sessions and three matches with Esteghlal, and I feel that we have started to develop. I accepted the job knowing the problems surrounding the team,” said Mosimane, whose team left the pitch empty-handed for a fifth successive match across all competitions.
Esteghlal, which remained inside the top eight with three points despite the defeat, will play Pakhtakor next, with games against Al Ahli Saudi, Al Shorta, and Al Rayyan also coming the Tehran Blues’ way.