Persepolis debacle against unimpressive Al Ittihad

PFDC – JEDDAH, Persepolis FC crashed out of the Asian Champion’s League, losing away to Al Ittihad of Saudi Arabia by a scoreline of 3-0.

The loss brings an end to a dismal season for the Tehran giants, who have also failed to qualify for the 2013 edition of Asia’s most prestigious club tournament following their 12th place finish in Iran’s domestic league.



As expected, the Saudi hosts began the single-legged round of 16 match by mounting pressure on their visitors. Despite their numerous opportunities, Al Ittihad were constantly denied by Perspolis’ Bosnian goalkeeper, Asmir Avdukic.



However, Al Ittihad were awarded a questionable penalty in the 35th minute of a match following a light foul by Sheys Rezaei near the corner of the box. The penalty was successfully converted by Naif Hazazi who carefully placed the ball in the bottom right corner of the net while sending Avdukic to the left.



Persepolis’ bad fortunes were to continue as Faouzi Abdelghani scored for Al Ittihad following Sheys Rezaei’s failure to clear the ball out of the Persepolis box during the final minute of stoppage time during the first half.



Despite Persepolis’ offensive approach in the second half, the Iranian side was unable to mount any serious challenges on the Saudi goal given an array of poor passing and shots outside of Ittihad’s box. The closest the Tehrani club came to scoring in the second half arrived in the 82nd minute when Eamon Zayed’s header hit the top of the crossbar.



Five minutes later, Al Ittihad capitalized on their own opportunity to effectively put an end to a possible comeback by Persepolis thanks to an Autef Abdoh’s strike following a series of passes within the Persepolis box. 

Following Perspolis’ defeat, Sepahan remains as Iran’s sole representative to progress to the quarter finals stage of the Asian Champion’s League, which will commence on September 19. 



Elsewhere in Asia, Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia made light work of Bani Yas Club, defeating the Emirati side 7-1.