Al Gharafa 3-1 Sepahan [VIDEO]

AFC – DOHA, Former France international striker Djibril Cisse scored twice as Al Gharafa came back from being a goal behind to hand Sepahan a 3-1 defeat in Group C of the AFC Champions League on Wednesday.

Defender Mohammad Ali Ahmadi gave Sepahan the lead after just 13 minutes but a close-range strike four minutes later and a second half header from Cisse put Al Gharafa in front before Majdi Siddiq sowed up all three points with a late finish.

The Qatari side lost their opening game of the 2013 campaign against last season’s runners up Al Ahli from Saudi Arabia but the win ensures Habib Sadek’s team keep pace with the rest of the group.

“Despite the fact that we went behind early in the game, the players showed good determination to win and to get back into the game,” said the Al Gharafa coach.

“We played well and we were looking to score and at the same time stop our opponents from reaching our goal.

“The equaliser that we scored motivated us and our strategy is to win matches at home and that’s what we did tonight. We were hoping not to lose any points at home and this result will give us a big push for the future.”

It could have been otherwise, though, had Sepahan capitalized more on their impressive start, with Moharram Navidkia going close in the fourth minute.

Less than a minute later Amin Jahanalian should have scored after being presented with the ball inside the penalty area following a mistake by goalkeeper Qasem Burhan, but the midfielder curled his shot wide of the post.

Sepahan only had to wait until the 13th minute to finally put themselves on the score sheet as Ahmadi ghosted in at the far post to meet Navidkia’s dipping corner and the defender steered the ball home.

The Iranian side’s lead only last four minutes, however, when Cisse managed to stay onside before sliding the ball over the line from six yards out.

Despite the equaliser, Sepahan continued to dominate, with Xhevahir Sukaj pulling his shot wide in the 29th minute while Burhan pushed Omid Ebrahimi’s spectacular long-range free kick over the bar.

Chastened by their first half performance, Al Gharafa looked more threatening in the second period and, nine minutes after the restart, Brazilian winger Nene (Anderson Luiz de Carvalho) saw his well-struck free kick from the left punched to safety by Shahab Gordon.

Four minutes later, though, Al Gharafa and Cisse struck again, the former Marseille man connecting with Nene’s cross to direct a downward header into the turf and beyond Gordon via the underside of the crossbar.

Al Gharafa looked to be well on the way to securing all three points as time ran down, and substitute Siddiq put the result beyond all doubt when he slotted home from close range after good work down the left by Alex left him with an easy finish.

“Al Gharafa deserved to win today although we had a good performance and took the lead but we made some mistakes and, coupled with the determination of Al Gharafa, that gave them the three points tonight,” said Sepahan coach Zlatko Kranjcar.

“We played very well right from the beginning and we could have held on to our lead, but Al Gharafa managed to make a quick come back and scored the equalizer. That gave them a big push to score two more goals in the game to win the match.”

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