Sepahan – Esteghlal ACL Preview

GOAL – ESFAHAN, The newly-crowned Iranian champions play host to the Tehran giants in a last 16 clash which has captured the imagination of the public in the West Asian nation.

Sepahan clinched top spot in Group C last week with a 2-1 victory over Al Ahli with central defender Mohsen Bengar getting forward and popping up a late winner, having previously secured their qualification for the final 16.

Coach Zlatko Kranjcar has little need to change the line-up of the Iranian champions although Hadi Jafari went off in the first-half against Al Ahli and is a doubt for this match.

Brazilian Bruno Cesar and Xhevahir Sukaj have proved a handful for defences in this season’s ACL and they’ll be paired up front.

Esteghlal will welcome back a host of key players who miss their 2-0 win over Nasaf Qarshi due to suspension including Andranik Teymourian, Ali Hamoodi and Hanif Omranzadeh.

However they will be without veteran full-back Mehdi Amirabadi after he was sent off against the Uzbek side.

Teymourian should slot straight back into the midfield line-up, which will be led by Mojtaba Jabbari who scored from the spot against Nasaf.

Probable Lineups:

Sepahan: Ahmadi – Jafari, Hosseini, Bengar, Ashjari – Ebrahimi, Karimian, Januario, Navidkia – Sukaj, Bruno Cesar

Esteghlal: Rahmati – Heydari, Montazeri, Omranzadeh, Hosseini – Zandi, Teymourian, Jabbari, Samuel
– Borhani, Jerkovic