Al-Gharafa: Istiqlal’s Second Qatari Victim / Blues Secure Valuable Win with Two Stunning Goals

Iran’s Esteghlal football team defeated Qatar’s Al-Gharafa 2–1 tonight (Monday, Iran time, 21:45) in the second match of the AFC Champions League Elite at Thani bin Jassim Stadium in Doha.

Ambassador Arjan: Esteghlal football team won a valuable victory against Al-Gharafa in Qatar in their second match in the Asian Elite League.

Iran's Esteghlal football team was the guest of Al-Gharafa in the second match of the Asian Elite League at the Thani Bin Jassim Stadium in Doha, starting at 21:45 tonight (Monday - our country's time) 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 round of 18. The representative of Iran, while facing the sound of the Qatari audience's loudspeakers from the moment of the whistle, managed to get 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 Agassi, Rostam Ashourmatov, Saman Fallah, Amirmohammed Razzakinia (32 - Yaser Asani (67 - Mohammad Hossein Eslami)), Jalaluddin Masharipov (53 - Alireza Koshki), Hossein Godarzi, Ismail Qolizadeh and Saeed Sahrkhizan.

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 ground and increased the attack load on the left side of his team. This trick worked and Hossein Gudarzi 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 had faced several rough tackles by Al-Gharafa players, could not continue playing and was replaced by another player. Esteghlal counter-attacked in the 78th minute and Saharkhaizan reached the position for the third time in this game, but it hit the closed door again and his shot went to the corner after hitting the defenders.

In the 84th minute, a strange scene was created. Al-Gharafa player's pass was easily given to Aladdin Hasan by the opponent's attacker, but Farabassi sent the ball to the corner with a spectacular reaction. Esteghlal could have scored the third goal in counter attacks, 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.