Award for Shojaei at 37

At 37, Shojaei continues to deliver performances that have made him one of the key pillars of Tractor's defense.

According to "Varzesh Se", Tractor's goalless draw against Shamal was accompanied by Shoja Khalilzadeh's selection as the best player on the field. The red captain played in the center of defense for 90 minutes at the Sultan Qaboos Stadium in Muscat, and in the final evaluation of Footmob, he got the highest score of the match with a score of 7.6. The show that, at the age of 37, once again drew attention to the continuity of this defender's quality.

The details of Shuja's performance show that this choice had significant statistical support. Footmob has registered 11 defensive actions for him, including seven interceptions, three tackles and one interception. Four ball recoveries are also seen in his career to make the contribution of the tractor captain in keeping his team's goal more clear.

One of the important points was the brave success in direct battles. He won five of his six duels and no player from the north could register a successful dribble against him. Winning four ground battles out of five attempts and succeeding in the only aerial battle speaks of his focus and quality in facing the opposing players.

Shoja also contributed a lot in the circulation of the ball. He recorded 88 touches of the ball and completed 61 of his 72 passes safely to reach his pass accuracy of 84.7%. Also, he had 13 correct long passes out of 19 attempts, and he brought the ball to the offensive third of the field seven times.

This show is the latest part of a long career in Asian football. Summing up the appearances recorded in the transfer market, Shoja has played 69 games in Asian club competitions. This statistic, including one playoff match, includes 50 matches in the Champions League in the old format, 11 matches in the Elite League and seven matches in the AFC Champions League Two.

Persepolis' share of this record is 31 Asian matches. Shuja has played 26 Asian games for Tractor in total of two seasons and has played six times each with Sepahan and Al-Ryan shirts. He scored eight goals in this tournament, five goals for Persepolis, two goals for Tractor and one goal for Al-Ryan. These numbers show his experience in competing with Asian opponents.

Statistics have recorded 483 club games and 26 goals for Shuja until the meeting with Shamal. With the addition of 62 appearances in the senior national team, his total number of club and national games recorded in this database reaches 545 matches.

The brave path from Mes Rafsanjan and Mes Kerman reached Sepahan, Traktor and Persepolis, and after the experience of being in Al-Ryan and Al-Ahli in Qatar, it continued again in Tabriz. Nearly two decades of activity and playing in different teams and competitions, he is now the support of a defender who still has an important responsibility in the defense line and the captaincy of Tractor.

In the years when a new generation of young defenders have emerged in Iranian football, Shoja still maintains his position with his performance. The performance against Al-Shamal, with success in direct battles, participation in the turnover and helping to register a clean sheet, was an example of the quality that allows the 37-year-old Traktor captain to continue to shine in important matches.