TEHRAN – Persepolis football team of Iran defeated the UAE’s Al Wasl 1-0 on Matchday Four of the AFC Champions League on Tuesday.

In the match held in Dubai’s Zabeel Stadium, the Iranian giants won the match thanks to a header from Kamal Kamyabinia in the 37th minute.

Persepolis could have won with more goals but their strikers wasted their chances.

At the end of the game, Persepolis midfielder Farshad Ahmadzadeh was selected as Man of the Match.

“We are so happy since we have defeated a strong team. We have nine points now but we want to advance to the knockout stage as the table topper,” Persepolis coach Branko Ivankovic said in the post-match news conference.

Qatar’s Al Sadd also defeated Nasaf of Uzbekistan 4-0 in Doha to go top of Group C.

Tehran: A five-minute double salvo earned Islamic Republic of Iran’s Persepolis a solid 2-0 win over UAE’s Al Wasl in Matchday Three of the AFC Champions League Group C at Azadi Stadium on Monday.

Farshad Ahmadzadeh handed Persepolis the lead in the 36th minute after Hossein Mahini’s long throw-in was headed by captain Jalal Hosseini onto the path of Ahmadzadeh, who was well positioned at the far post to volley into the roof of the net.

Five minutes later, striker Ali Alipour doubled the joy of the home fans at Azadi Stadium. The number 70 was brought down inside the box as he attempted to round Al Wasl goalkeeper Yousif Abdulla. Alipour converted the resulting spot-kick down the middle for his third goal of the competition.

Australian midfielder Anthony Caceres came within a whisker of halving the deficit for Al Wasl in the dying minutes, but his curled effort from a free-kick was tipped behind for a corner kick by a flying Alireza Beiranvand.

The 2017 semi-finalists face Al Wasl’s again next week as the Emirati side remain without a point to their name after three games.

(Source: AFC)

TEHRAN – Persepolis coach Branko Ivankovic says the match against Al Wasl of the UAE is a must-win game for them.

There is a lot of pressure on Ivankovic’s shoulders after losing 1-0 to Esteghlal in Tehran derby on Thursday.

Persepolis will host Al Wasl in Tehran’s Azadi Stadium in Group C of the AFC Champions League on Monday.

“The match against Al Wasl is more important than Tehran derby and we need to beat them. We are ready to get three points and there is no margin for error,” Ivankovic said in the pre-match news conference.

“As far as I know, we can advance to the knockout stage with nine points so we have to win our home match,” the Croat added.

Al Wasl coach Rodolfo Arruabarrena also says they want to defeat Persepolis to keep alive their chances of qualifying for the knockout stage.

“We want to win the match, that’s why we are here. Al Wasl have lost their first two matches but we just want a win against Persepolis,” Arruabarrena said.

“We have several young players in our team that can build our future. We are going to show a good performance against Persepolis,” he added.

Al Sadd sit top of Group C with six points, followed by Persepolis and Nasf with three points.

Al Wasl are propping up the standings.