ACL MD4 – Group A: Persepolis 1-0 Al Nassr [VIDEO]

AFC – TEHRAN, Forward Mehdi Taremi’s audacious second-half ‘Panenka’ penalty kick was enough to give Persepolis a 1-0 victory over Al Nassr in Group A of the AFC Champions League on Wednesday and edge the Iranians closer towards the Round of 16.

After suffering a 3-0 defeat in the reverse fixture in Riyadh last month Persepolis went into the game knowing a second consecutive loss would see them concede top spot in the group to their opponents.

But Taremi’s delightful spot-kick secured a deserved three points for the home side after they dominated throughout and they will now head to Doha in two weeks’ time to face Lekhwiya in the hope of sealing their qualification to the last 16 for only the third time.

Persepolis started the stronger of the teams and had their first effort of note in the 18th minute when midfielder Ahmad Noorollahi’s powerful volley from 25 yards forced an awkward save from Al Nassr keeper Abdullah Al Enezi who managed to collect the ball at the second attempt.

Noorallahi’s 30-yard drive on the half-hour mark was then comfortably gathered by the Saudi custodian before midfielder Omid Alishah headed wide from just three yards out two minutes later after connecting with a corner from Brazilian playmaker Fernando Gabriel.

And 10 minutes before the interval the home side created the best chance of the half when the Gabriel dinked a wonderful through ball to Hamidreza Aliasgari but his looping header was superbly saved by the outstretching Al Nassr stopper.

The hosts continued to have the better of the game after the restart and should have opened the scoring when Alishah raced onto to a defence-splitting pass only to skew his left-foot shot from inside the penalty area horribly wide.

But then Persepolis did take the lead on the hour when the referee awarded a penalty after midfielder Mehrdad Kafshgari was bundled over in the box by Al Nassr defender Mohamed Husain and Taremi outwitted Al Enezi with his cheeky dink from the ensuing spot-kick.

The Saudis then had their best chance of the game with 15 minutes to play when substitute Ahmed Al Fraidi’s lifted cross from the left side of the six yard box was met by Poland midfielder Adrian Mierzejewski at the back post but he saw his header rebound back off the woodwork.

Mierzejewski then went close again in the last minute when he cut inside from the right before firing a powerful left-foot drive from fully 25 yards but Sousha Makani in the Persepolis goal was up to the task and pushed the ball away to safety as the home side held out to inch closer towards the Round of 16.