Iranian teams Zobahan and Esteghlal lined up against their rivals in the series of Asian Football Confederation Champions League games on March 6.
Totally successful, Zobahan defeated the rival Al Wahda in Foolad Shahr Stadium of Isfahan with two goals and received zero goals, but Estghlal exchanged the victory with a draw due to a last-minute penalty for its rival, Al Ain, the AFC reported.
A brace from Morteza Tabrizi fired Zobahan to a 2-0 home win over Al Wahda on Matchday Three of the 2018 AFC Champions League Group B on Tuesday.
A lively start to the game saw the two sides exchange attempts inside the first five minutes. Al Wahda goalkeeper Mohammed Al Shamsi was forced into a reflex save after Bakhtiar Rahmani’s side-footed effort from inside the box.
The visitors responded instantly through Sebastian Tagliabue’s solo effort, but the Argentine’s low drive from an angle was pushed away by goalkeeper Mohammad Mazaheri.
Shamsi was left to pick up the ball from his own net in the 34th minute when Tabrizi opened the scoring from Seyyed Hosseini’s cross. The striker was well positioned at the far post to head home the cross for his second goal of the campaign.
Rahmani nearly doubled Zobahan’s lead in the 56th minute after he curled a shot with the outside of his foot, but saw it ricochet off the upright and fall for Kiros who was caught off-guard and failed to take his chance with the empty goal at his mercy from six yards out.
Tabrizi doubled the hosts’ lead in the 72nd minute, benefitting from a defensive lapse that allowed Kiros to get on the end of a long pass and set up his teammate behind Al Wahda’s defense. Tabrizi then deftly attempted a placed shot from 30 yards out that nestled into the back of the net.
Zobahan will go into next week’s Matchday Four fixture in Abu Dhabi with six points to their name, while Al Wahda will look to avenge their defeat and end their winless run in the competition, which now stands at four games.
Esteghlal
Al Ain left it late to rescue a point at home against Esteghlal, as the two sides played out an entertaining 2-2 draw at Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, UAE, on Matchday Three of the 2018 AFC Champions League Group D.
After a goalless first half, Thiam showed intelligent movement inside the box to beat his marker and convert Farshid Esmaeili’s cross from the left flank at the near post, putting Esteghlal in front seven minutes into the second half.
Al Ain restored parity in the 63rd minute when Swedish striker Marcus Berg got on the end of Hussein El Shahat’s cross, beating goalkeeper Seyyed Hosseini from a narrow angle.
Berg had a golden chance to give his side the lead 10 minutes later after El Shahat was brought down inside the box, but Esteghlal’s Hosseini and the post combined to deny the Swedish international from the spot.
Esmaeili and Thiam combined again in the 77th minute to replicate their effort from the start of the half and put the visitors in the driving seat once more. The Senegalese striker, who joined Esteghlal in February, sent his strike into the far corner of Khaled Eisa’s net.
There was room for one more twist as substitute Pejman Montazeri’s first contribution to the game was to bring down Al Ain’s own substitute Ahmed Khalil inside the box.
The 2015 Asian Player of the Year converted the penalty calmly to level the score for the hosts, extending their unbeaten home record in the competition since February 2016.
