Esteghlal Floors Second Qatari Side; Blues Unrivaled in Asia

Esteghlal secured a win in its second group-stage match of the AFC Champions League Elite.

According to Mehr reporter, Iran's Esteghlal football team and Qatar's Al-Gharafa faced each other in the second week of the group stage of the Asian Elite League on Monday evening, October 20, starting at 21:45 with the referee Alex King from Australia at Thani Bin Jassim Stadium in Doha. The match ended with a score of 2-1 in favor of Esteghlal. Yaser Asani and Hossein Gudarzi scored the goals of Esteghlal in this game.

Habib Farabbasi, Rostam Ashurmatov, Saman Fallah, Aref Agassi, Hossein Gudarzi, Saleh Hardani, Amir Mohammad Razzakinia (32- Yaser Asani) (67- Mohammad Hossein Eslami), Roozbe Cheshmi (yellow card), Jalaluddin Masharipov (yellow card) (52- Alireza Koshki), Ismail Qolizadeh (yellow card) and Saeed Sahrkhizan.

Ahmed Kaneh, Abdurrahman Fayez al-Rashdi (Holgate-75), Seydou Sano (Koman-75), Dami Traore (Aladdin-45), Ayoub Mohammad Al-Alawi, Seifuddin Hassan Fadlallah, Fabricio Diaz, Farjani Sassi, Yassin Brahimi (Nasser Mohammad-80), Adam Onas and Frank Magri (Ali Sorag-64).

In the first minutes of this match, the mistake of the Al-Gharafa players in sending a pass caused the ball to leave the field and be in the hands of the Esteghlals. Despite the majority of possession of the ball by the Blue Poshans, in the first five minutes, no dangerous situation was created on the Al-Gharafa goal, and the Qatari team players could not pose a serious threat on the Esteghlal goal either.

Esteghlal got a chance in the 11th minute on a corner kick. Jalaluddin Masharipov sent the ball to Al-Gharafa's goal and Saman Fallah aimed at this team's goal with a header, but the ball went out from the side of the goal.

In the 15th minute, the flow of the game was mostly followed in the middle of the field, and Al-Gharafa players repeatedly tried to stop the opponent's attacks by fouling Esteghlal players. Four minutes later, Yasin Brahimi approached Esteghlal's goal from the right and sent a cross pass to Magri, but Agassi sent the ball to the corner earlier than Al-Gharafa's striker.

Al-Gharafa had a chance to score on a corner kick in the 20th minute, but the header of this team's player went wide of Habib Farabbasi's goal. Five minutes later, Roozbe Cheshmi sent a long and deep pass to Saeed Saharkhaizan in a scoring position, but the timely departure of the Al-Gharafa goalkeeper prevented the ball from reaching Esteghlal's attacker.

In the 26th minute of this match, the collision of the Al-Gharafa player with Amir Mohammad Razzakinia caused the injury of the young midfielder of Esteghlal and the game was stopped for a few minutes. Razzakinia could not continue the game due to this injury and Yaser Asani entered the field as a substitute in the 32nd minute.

Asani, who had just entered the field, managed to open Al-Gharafa's goal with a beautiful shot on Saleh Hardani's pass in the 38th minute, so Esteghlal took the lead over the Qatari opponent with a goal scored by his own winger.

In the 45+3 minutes, Saeed Sahrkhizan was in a one-on-one situation with the Al-Gharafa goalkeeper on Yaser Asani's pass, but he managed to put the ball into the goal and Ahmed Kane blocked the ball away.

45 + 6 minutes: Al-Gharafa players prepared an attack towards Esteghlal's goal, the shot of this team's player was blocked by Habib Farabbasi, and in the rebound, the ball reached the player of this team again, which went away due to the intervention of Arif Agassi and Farabbasi, and Al-Gharafa's scoring opportunity was lost.

The start of the second half and a tie for Gharafa

At the beginning of the second half, the Al-Gharafa team managed to equalize in the 47th minute on a shot planted in the middle of the field. The ball was sent to Farjani Sassi in front of the goal with the intervention of Seido Sano and this player kicked the ball into Habib Farabbasi's goal to make the game 1-1.

Saharkhaizan's opportunistic burning in the Al-Gharafa penalty area

In the 50th minute, Al-Gharafa reached the Esteghlal penalty area on a dangerous counterattack by Magri, but the striker's shot was deflected by Habib Farabbasi's reaction and went into the corner. Two minutes later, Saman Fallah got the ball to Saeed Saharkhizan in the Al-Gharafa penalty area with a long and deep pass, but Esteghlal's striker's shot went wide of the goal to miss another opportunity for the blue-clad players to score.

In the 54th minute of this match, a tackle by the Al-Gharafa player on Yasir Asani's leg caused an injury to Esteghlal's winger and the game was stopped for a few minutes. However, there was no particular problem for Asahi and he returned to the field after a few minutes.

In the 56th minute, Alireza Koshki had a chance to shoot with a wide movement and sent his shot towards the goal of Al-Gharafa, but the ball went out of the side of the goal with a small difference.

The second goal of Esteghlal was due to the mistake of the Gharafa goalkeeper

In the 61st minute, after stealing the ball in the middle of the field, Hossein Gudarzi hit the Al-Gharafa goal with a long-range shot. The Qatari goalkeeper's mistake in blocking the ball caused this shot to become Esteghlal's second goal and the blue-clad team once again took the lead over their opponent.

In the 63rd minute, Adam Yunas shot from behind the Esteghlal penalty area, but his shot went wide of the goal.

Esteghlal had a chance in the 73rd minute on Saleh Hardani's pass, but Saman Fallah's header, which he had advanced to help the attack, went over the top of Al-Gharafa's goal.

In the 78th minute, Al-Gharafa threatened Esteghlal's goal with a strong and defiant shot by Yasin Brahimi, but the ball changed direction after hitting Aref Agassi's foot and went dangerously into the corner. In the following, Saeed Saharkhaizan was also in a good position to score for the third time in this match. Esteghlal's attacker deceived the defender with a header, but his final shot was not in the frame of the goal and Al-Gharafa's defender sent the ball to the corner.

In the 84th minute, Al-Gharafa had a dangerous situation due to Rostam Ashurmatov's mistake, and the ball reached Aladdin Hassan, so that this player was in a one-on-one situation with Habib Farabbasi.

In the 90+4th minute, Al-Gharafa players attacked the Esteghlal goal and while the ball was about to enter the Esteghlal goal, Rostam Ashurmatov pushed the ball away from the goal line.

In the end, this game ended with Esteghlal winning 2-1, so that the Blues defeated the second Qatari team in the Asian Elite League after Al Sadd and achieved their second consecutive victory. Esteghlal along with Al Ain Emirates have 6 points in the group stage table of the West Asia region, and the Blues are in the second place due to the less goal difference.