Esteghlal held at home by Sepahan [VIDEO]

TEHRAN TIMES – TEHRAN, Esteghlal football team was held to a 1-1 draw by Sepahan in the Iranian Professional League on Friday.

In the match held at Tehran’s Azadi Stadium in front of about 30,000 spectators, Esteghlal defender Javad Shirzad put the host into the lead in the 32nd minute with a powerful shot from inside the area.

Mehdi Seyed-Salehi cancelled out the goal in the 54th minute with a header.

Esteghlal striker Esmaeil Sharifat was brought down into the penalty area by Hashem Beikzadeh in the 65th minute and referee Saeid Mozaffarizadeh showed the penalty spot but the Mojtaba Jabbari failed to score.

“We started well the match and could have scored but our strikers didn’t take on their advantages. I think Esteghlal is our main rival in the league for winning the title,” Zlatko Kranjcar said.

Elsewhere, Saba was held to a 2-2 draw by Traktorsazi in a home game, Foolad beat Shahin 2-1 in an away match, Sanat Naft saw off Damash 2-0 and Mes of Sarcheshmeh and Saipa finished in a 1-1 draw.

On Thursday, Persepolis lost to Malavan 2-0 in Anzali’s Takhti Stadium.

Mohammad Nozhati opened the scoring just seconds before the interval. The visitors could have equalized the match when referee Alireza Faghani showed the penalty spot in the 68th minute but Mehdi Mahdavikia, who had came off the bench, failed to score.

Ali Ramezani scored Anzali’s second goal in the 77th minute from the penalty spot after Persepolis defender Mojtaba Shiri brought down Nozhati into the penalty area.

Esteghlal remained at the top of the IPL table with 37 points followed by Naft and Sepahan with 33 and 31 points respectively.

Below come the full highlights from PFDCTV.