AFC Champions League Elite:
Esteghlal knockout hopes hanging by thread after Al Shorta draw
Esteghlal’s hopes of advancing to the AFC Champions League Elite last-16 were left in jeopardy after a frustrating 1-1 draw against Iraqi champion Al Shorta on Monday.
The Tehran Blues got off to a flying start to a first Asian home game at the iconic Azadi Stadium in nearly six years, finding the net through new signing Joel Kojo four minutes into the contest.
Esteghlal wing-back Abolfazl Jalali found the Kyrgyz international on the near post with a low cross, before Kojo’s sliding effort found the bottom corner.
The home side was on the back foot for the best part of the first half but could have still doubled the lead right before the break, when Mohammadreza Azadi’s sizzling strike from the edge of the box came off the crossbar and then Ramin Rezaeian’s header on the rebound went just wide.
Substitute Rewan Amin drew the visitors level four minutes after the restart.
Ameer Saba’s corner was flicked across the goal by Ayoub Mouddane’s header and, after Mahmoud Al Mawas directed the ball back into the six-yard box from the far post, Amin hooked a goal-bound effort over his shoulder.
Esteghlal desperately pushed for a second goal afterwards and Rezaeian and Masoud Juma thought their sublime finishes had restored the lead, before both were denied by the offside flag.
The result kept the Blues in the eighth place of the West’s 12-team table with six points but they will likely have to beat Al Rayyan in Qatar on the final day of the league phase in two weeks to secure a top-eight finish.
Earlier in the day, second half goals from Mahmoud Trezeguet and Roger Guedes saw Al Rayyan come from behind to beat defending champion Al Ain 2-1 and move up to sixth in the standings on eight points.
Al Shorta, meanwhile, is on the cusp of elimination, sitting second from bottom with three points.
‘Fair result’
Esteghlal’s Interim coach Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh thought the final outcome was a “fair result.”
“We pressed more in the second half and were looking to win but were not in our regular form. We could have scored the second goal at the end of the first half, but it didn’t happen,” said the Iranian, who took charge of the Blues bench for a second spell this season after South African Pitso Mosimane walked away from his job last week.
“We took risks in the final minutes and made changes to put pressure and score. We had players on both wings who did what we wanted but despite these advantages, we were unable to score,” Bakhtiarizadeh added.
Al Shorta boss Salah Alwan, meanwhile, was positive despite the result almost surely ending his team’s campaign.
“Our team came to get three points, but this one point is good for us, and I’m happy with the result we got at Azadi Stadium. Esteghlal are a great team but we were better and controlled the entire pitch,” said Alwan.
“It doesn’t matter where we are in the standings or what our conditions are. We only think about getting better game by game in every league and every match, and we don’t think about the table, and the table had no effect on our game.”