Esteghlal 2-1 Al-Gharafa; Sohrab's Sweet Win on a Bitter Night for the Stars

Esteghlal Secures Its Second Asian Victory

According to ambassador Arjan; The Esteghlal football team of Iran was the guest of Al-Gharafa from 21:45 tonight (Monday - our country's time) in the second match of the Asian Elite League at Thani Bin Jassim Stadium in Doha and won 2-1.

Yaser Asani (37) and Hossein Gudarzi (60) scored for Esteghlal and Farjani Sassi (48) scored for Al-Gharafa.

Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh's students, who passed the Al-Sad dam in Qatar in the first round, got 6 points and took a big step to advance to the final round of 18. The representative of Iran, while facing the sound of the Qatari audience's loudspeakers from the moment of the whistle, scored a valuable win with two easy and good distance shots and of course the brilliance of Habib Farabbasi.

Esteghlal's third match in this competition will be against Shabab Al-Ahly in the UAE on November 5.

Al-Gharafa lineup: Hamad Bashir, Abdul Rahman Al-Rashidi (75 - Mason Holgate), Seido Sano (75 - Florinel Coman), Dami Traore (46 - Aladdin), Yassin Brahimi (80 - Nasser Al-Mohammed), Frank Magri (64 - Amro Sorag), Farjani Sassi, Ayoub Al-Alawi, Fabrizio Diaz, Adam Onas and Saif Al-Din Hassan.

Esteghlal squad: Habib Farabbasi, Saleh Hardani, Rozbe Cheshmi, Arif Aghasi, Rostam Ashourmatov, Saman Fallah, Amirmohammed Razzakinia (32 - Yaser Asani (67 - Mohammad Hossein Eslami)), Jalaluddin Masharipov (53 - Alireza Koshki), Hossein Guderzi, Ismail Qolizadeh and Saeed Saharkhizan.

Warning: Masharipov, Rouzbe Cheshmi and Ismail Qolizadeh from Esteghlal

The game started with Esteghlal owning the ball and Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh's students wanted to attack more than the host. Independence created the first serious danger; where the ball sent from the corner point with Saman Falah's header went out from the side of Al-Gharafa's goal. After this attack, Al-Gharafa moved forward and, like Esteghlal, looked for sending from Janahin.

While the game was proceeding normally, Amirmohammed Razzaqinia was injured in a collision with a Gharafa player, and he was replaced by Yaser Asani, who was not included in the starting line-up due to injury. This change was auspicious for independence; Where the Albanian star beautifully opened the goal of Al-Gharafa with a shot from a distance in the 37th minute. In the fourth minute of stoppage time of this half, Saeed Saharkhaizan could have scored the second goal, but his shot was blocked by the goalkeeper of Al-Gharafa. This result remained until the end of the first half for both teams to go to the dressing room.

In the last minute of extra time, Al-Gharafa was on the verge of scoring when Habib Farabbasi and Esteghlal's defenders prevented their goal from opening.

In the second half, Al-Gharafa started the game offensively and in the 48th minute, Farjani Sassi opened Farabbasi's goal in the crowded penalty area of Esteghlal. Two minutes later, Al-Gharafa could have scored a second goal when Farabbasi sent the ball into the corner with his reaction. In the 53rd minute, Saharkhaizan was in a good position when his shot was not in the frame.

Sohrab Bakhtiarizadeh sent Alireza Koshki to the field to increase the attack load on the left side of his team. This trick worked and Hossein Guderzi scored the second goal of Iran's representative with a shot from behind the penalty area and a mistake by the goalkeeper of Al-Gharafa in the 60th minute.

In the 67th minute, Yasir Asani, who faced several rough tackles from Al-Gharafa players, could not continue the game and was replaced by another player. In the 78th minute, Esteghlal counter-attacked and Saharkhaizan reached the position for the third time in this game, but he failed again and his shot went to the corner after hitting the defenders.

In the 84th minute, a strange scene was created, Al-Gharafa's pass was mistakenly sent by Ashurmatov, and the ball was easily handed to the opponent's attacker Aladdin Hasan, but Farabbasi sent the ball to the corner with a spectacular reaction.

Esteghlal could have scored the third goal in counterattacks, but the players of this team were not careful enough. Despite several substitutions, Al-Gharafa could not score the equalizing goal and the game ended with the victory of the representative of Iran.