Esteghlal boss delighted with ACL progress

GOAL – QARSHI, Esteghlal coach Parviz Mazloumi was delighted to see his side reach the final 16 of the AFC Champions League (ACL) after a 2-0 victory at Nasaf Qarshi on Wednesday.

The 1998-99 Asian runners-up scored early through Goran Jerkovic before a 50th-minute penalty rom Mojtaba Jabbari sealed their passage into the final 16 where they’ll face fellow Iranian club Sepahan.

“Today was a very good game for us. We did our best and we won the game well,” Mazloumi told reporters.

The result ends Nasaf’s debut ACL campaign, with the Uzbek club claiming just one point but Mazloumi insisted they were a better side than that suggests.

“I know that Nasaf are a very good team and they played very well today. The only reason that they had such bad results was because they were in such a tough group.”

Nasaf boss Ruziqul Berdiev congratulated Esteghlal on their success, acknowledging their cutting edge in front of goal proved decisive.

“Esteghlal were simply better than us and I congratulate them on the result,” Berdiev said.

“We did our best and we did not play too badly. We tried to play attacking football and to entertain our supporters. They liked our style of play but I’m sorry that our results were not better.”